Digimon Advent
by DigimonAdvent
Summary: Some time in the year 3000, the world has recovered from a catastrophe that brought the world to it's knees. The digital world is going through it's own turmoil, and digimon, with no where else to flee to, have appeared in the real world. OCs only.
1. The Advent of a new Era

Episode 1. - Advent of a New Age

* * *

><p>The subway was dark, and empty. This particular line was down for maintenance due to the latest series of tremors shaking through it.<p>

Silently, a large beast, a monster resembling some form of giant, shaggy black dog, lowered himself down, pressing one of his long, black ears, against the floor. He'd been keeping track of these tremors that had been plaguing the city above for over a week or so, now. Or rather, tracking the tremors themselves.

Faint sounds beneath him indicated that not all was as quiet as it seemed, in this dark and empty place. The rumbling was directly under him, somewhere, and getting steadily louder every minute.

He had to be very careful, for what was coming could easily cause the tunnel to collapse around him; and what was coming was another monster, though, one not as concerned with the wellbeing of others as he was. Turning, the black dog began to run back some, to give fair space, when the rumblings were close enough to be felt, and needing to listen was no longer a wise move.

Suddenly, the ground seemed to explode apart, throwing out rocks and debris, the train tracks completely smashed through and shattered. A loud screech pierced through the darkened subway, as several red glowing eyes shone through the gloom, the swirling clouds of dust slowly settling to reveal a giant mass of wriggling parasitic worm, an open maw lined with sharp teeth it had been eating through dirt and rock with. The black dog knew it wouldn't be long before the humans above sent for help, they would have surely felt the tremors by now, and hopefully, the trouble-maker causing them would be removed by that point.

The large worm-like figure ahead finished heaving the rest of its long, twisting segmented body out of the ground, turning its large head at the black dog, all of its red eyes fixing themselves on its adversary.

"I think you've run enough, Centimon." the black dog creature suddenly spoke, in a low voice, as his own red eyes began to glow, claws flexing slightly in readiness for battle. "It's time this ended."

The large worm's hiss almost made it seem like it too agreed that it had delayed their fighting long enough, and raised itself until it's head almost rubbed against the ceiling, getting itself into position- though, voices down the end of the tunnel indicated that the humans above had reacted much faster in calling in emergency forces.

"dammit..." the big black dog hissed, as this gave Centimon enough time to reconsider on its decision to fight, and hurriedly burst back down the tunnel it had made, sealing part of it behind it as it went.

"Over there, I saw something!" yelled a voice, as the light from a torch flashed brightly down the tunnel, slightly uncovering the dog's position in the darkness. Turning back, the black dog made a run for it, his large paws seeming to make no noise as he ran, gritting his teeth in frustration.

Once again, his target had escaped.

* * *

><p>"I do hope you'll like it here, Amy."<p>

Lugging in several suitcases, two figures entered into a light, airy apartment, the furnishings having not seen much use for several years, so everything was covered in layers of dust.

The young man of the pair set down some of the suitcases, then removed his glasses to polish them.

"If you have any issues, I live in the Blue Skies apartments, which are just opposite the courtyard from here. It's a shame this place isn't a bit nearer..."

"It's fine, Joey." said the girl, Amy, who had been putting her suitcase of belongings over by the sofa, before wandering over to the small balcony to look out at the cityscape view. "Dad bought this place years ago for when he was doing research here, going back a few years... though he did warn me that the apartment had received a few upgrades, as with all the others..."

"Ah, yes... I suppose I could show you that 'upgrade', then. Would you like that?" Joey asked, heading over to a strange panel on the wall.

"Sure..." Amy replied, heading over to look at it. It was some form of computer, built into the wall, with a small terminal, with various ports for devices to link-up, a keyboard, and a series of buttons with symbols. Joey booted it up, only to be met with an error message.

'ERROR: Digital Assistant not found.'

"Oops... I guess you and your dad haven't registered an assistant, yet." Joey sighed, "I won't be able to set this up unless we get you one."

"Is it really that important?" She asked, looking up at him carefully.

"Yeah. This runs your entire home, basically, your computer network, air conditioning and heating, gas, electric, water, home security... It does everything. Because this is the city that seems to never have time to rest, all the homes here are installed with these things, takes the stress off of running a home." A smile seemed to be forming across his face, as he added, "and more over, the assistants are awesome."

Reaching into his pocket, he produced a PDA-like device, with a small fold-away keyboard, touch screen and camera built into it. A white rabbit creature greeted him on the screen. The colours of the PDA seemed to correspond with the colours of the rabbit.

"Yo, Joey, what can I do for ya?"

"Manimon, why don't you say hello to Amy?" Joey said, holding the PDA up so she could get a better look.

"You've got yourself a cute friend there, Joey... is it really alright if I talk to her? I wouldn't want you to get jealous." the rabbit grinned, looking up at Joey from the screen, before turning his gaze back on to Amy. "Well, hey there, Amy! I'm Manimon, I hope I'll be seeing more of you soon! Joey never really lets me have much of a social life, y'know. He's a boring git, really"

Amy couldn't help but let out a few giggles there at Manimon's cheekiness.

"Did you program him to say that, Joey?" she asked, looking surprised at Manimon's reaction to this question.

"Program? Sister, I'm a free-thinking guy, if Joey programmed me, I'd be spewing out machine code or reciting random lines from his sci-fi shows!" Manimon huffed, folding his paws across his fluffy chest.

"Hahaha, alright Manimon, calm down." Joey laughed, rubbing his finger against the screen. Manimon rubbed his face affectionately against where Joey's finger was pressing. "Your assistant, when you get it, is very real, Amy. Manimon's emotions and intelligence, even if a little simple, are very real things."

"HEY! I am NOT simple! I am a complex and interesting guy! Infact, if you want my opinion, I'd say I'm-"

However, Joey didn't seem to want to know Manimon's opinion and simply hit the mute button, putting his device into his pocket.

"How much do these devices cost?" Amy asked, suddenly a little worried because she would be living on a budget with a weekly allowance coming through from her dad, and this would mean no crazy spending on expensive things, even if this whole assistant-thing did seem pretty important.

"Well, don't worry about that for now, let's just head off out and get you sorted" Joey suggested "before Manimon figures out how to override the mute settings..."

* * *

><p>They'd had to catch a train there, but finally, they'd arrived at the right place.<p>

Amy looked up at the shiny white building ahead, it was a fairly large computer store called "Guardian Supplies", and it seemed fairly packed inside, people of all ages wandering around.

All manner of gadgets and gizmos were inside, even a display robot that a lot of kids were cooing and fawning over.

Joey headed over to a store clerk and seemed to say something, pulling out some form of ID badge, though Amy couldn't really get a clear look. The clerk nodded and beckoned Amy to come over. Her curiosity continued to grow, giving Joey an inquisitive look as she approached.

"What did you say to him, I wonder?" she asked, as they began walking.

"Hahaha, did your father not tell you about my job? I work at Arch Angel, the company behind all this technology. I'm getting an employee discount on a new PDA for you, so it's at a very reduced price. Don't worry, you can thank me later."

The clerk lead them into a room with people of all ages sitting at various terminals with PDAs linked up to the machines. Amy looked at some of these as she passed; a little boy sitting at one received one of these "assistants", though it looked nothing like Manimon, Joey's personal one. Looking from one screen to another, all of the creatures on the screens were unique to their owners, each with a distinctive personality and various quirks, just like their human owners. Amy had at first doubted Joey's claim that these were 'real' beings, but this was certainly enough to make even her feel uncertain.

"take a seat here, ma'am, and follow the onscreen instructions." said the clerk, before leaving to serve another customer.

"Amy? I'll just be off to one side, you might like a little privacy for this. You're going to need to answer a few questions, the survey answers tailor your assistant to your needs and how you answer, alright?" he said, patting her shoulder gently. "Trust me, this will be worth it."

Amy watched as Joey backed off and headed over to sit in a seating area nearby, pulling out his own PDA again. She could faintly hear Manimon's voice over the faint chattering of the nearby people, as he yelled in frustration for getting muted earlier. Although she liked Manimon, inwardly, Amy did hope her assistant would be a little more agreeable, or at least, didn't use an outdoor voice.

Turning back to the terminal, she hit the enter key when prompted to begin, and put on the supplied headphones.

A short introduction played, that informed her what the survey was for. Her partner would be assigned based on her answers, and various forms of 'scans' the machine would make on her.

A computerized female voice filled the headphones in its monotonous way, and began to ask her to type out answers to various questions. Amy wasn't sure what to make of some of them, but she answered honestly.

"What do you look for in a friend?"

This question completely threw her off, but she answered honestly.

"I guess... someone I can rely on for support, when things get tough... someone honest, and reliable.."

It then went down a different route, asking her what the main duties she would be using her assistant for, and since she was pretty useless with computers, she decided it's main use would be system security for the computer, and home security for her apartment. The voice then proceeded to read out a long list of features and tasks her assistant would be able to perform.

After some time, she began to grow anxious. What would her assistant be like? She felt herself getting excited and nervous, all at once. However, she was quickly snapped out of these thoughts as the voice spoke again.

"Your egg has been received on the terminal. Please place your hand against the screen to leave a digital imprint on it, and hatch it."

Amy seemed a little surprised that they put in something that seemed a little out of place. Egg? Hatch? Why was this so important? Shaking her head, she looked up at the screen, as a pixellated egg began to form and render before her. It was white, with a blue zigzag bottom and a blue diamond mark on top.

"..." Amy opened her mouth to say something, but found no words would form. She caught Joey looking over from the side, why was this so nervewracking? Looking at the egg was making her heart beat quicken, and she couldn't explain it.

Slowly, she reached out and pressed her hand against the egg. Something jolted through her, and it at first felt like maybe she'd been given static shock from the screen, but it hadn't hurt- a warmth had seem to spread through her entire body and exit out through her hand, a white "pulse" spreading through the egg, which began to crack and hatch.

In a burst of light and glowing particles, something appeared on the screen, curled up asleep, a small white dog-like creature, with the patterns that had been on the egg seeming to correlate with the patterns and markings on it's face, tail and long, soft-looking ears.

"Now," the voice said, after a moment's silence. "Wake up your digital partner."

* * *

><p>"He...llo...?"<p>

Something disturbed the silent white world, this bright dream-like haze in the mind of the newly born assistant. Some strange, new and pleasant sound, rather faint, but there, seeming to call her forward from the emptiness.

"Can... you hear me...?"

The white dog-like figure shifted slightly, responding to the voice, this wonderful voice that seemed to give her the nicest of feelings, just hearing it. Opening her eyes slowly, the little dog-creature took a look at the world for the first time from this strange digital chamber that had been her birthplace.

A girl, looking through some kind of window, was staring back at her, with concerned blue eyes, long blonde hair done up in a ponytail. Standing up for the first time, the white dog's tail began to wag... just looking at this girl made her feel very happy, very... safe.

"Hello..." she sighed sleepily to the girl, rubbing her eyes a little. "I heard a voice, calling to me... it was you, wasn't it?"

Amy nodded back, suddenly feeling shy, and feeling rather silly for feeling that way. "Yes... it was me." She couldn't seem to take her eyes off of her new partner, her chest feeling a little tighter all of a sudden.

"Mmh..." her assistant yawned, giving a stretch, "I'm so glad... I feel like I was dreaming of this day, for a long time..." Standing up and giving a little shake down, she suddenly felt very awake, very alive. She couldn't place her paw on it, but she felt as if, somewhere, she had been dreaming of the girl before her, for a long time now. And quite suddenly, all this information seemed to suddenly enter her head, who she is, what she was, where she was... everything.

"my name is Laelapmon," the creature suddenly said, as it introduced itself "Please, what's your name?"

"Laelapmon..." Amy repeated, getting use to the name the creature had seemingly assigned itself, "I'm Amy, Amy Hughes"

"Amy... I think... if it's really OK..." Laelapmon seemed to grow rather shy, herself, glancing away a little, "I'd love to come home now... home with you, that is..."

Amy suddenly remembered what she was supposed to do next, fumbling with her PDA and nearly dropping it multiple times in her nervousness and excitement.

"Oh, I nearly forgot!" An icon had flashed up on the PDA informing her that it was ready to 'receive assistant from terminal'. "Laelapmon, I'm just going to put you on my PDA, alright?" Pressing the button on her touchscreen, she initiated the download sequence, which showed the icon representing the terminal, with a red wire linking to the icon of the PDA, and a small sprite showing Laelapmon travelling down the wire and arriving onto the PDA with a little beep to signify she'd arrived safely.

Amy was suddenly aware of having someone standing over her, and nearly jumped off of her seat in fright, where she hadn't expected Joey to be standing right behind her.

"J-Joey!" she squeaked, steadying herself after almost falling off the chair.

"She's very cute, she looks like she's a good match for you, Amy." Joey grinned, helping her up properly. "She'll need a little rest to get used to, you know, suddenly existing and all, but she'll be a good addition to your life, I think."

Amy didn't really want to say anything, but speaking with Laelapmon had felt almost like she was speaking to an old friend, someone important to her life. She was a little confused, but it certainly hadn't felt bad... after the recent events that had lead to her coming to New Tokyo, this had felt rather nice. Amy turned to Joey, about to suggest they go home, when she noticed him giving her PDA a look that seemed to suggest he was hiding something.

"What? what's wrong?" she asked, holding the PDA a little tighter.

"Oh... nothing." smiling, he turned on his heel and looked over at the exit door. "It's been a long day for you, what with the plane and so on. I suppose I'd better get you back home." Without saying any more, he walked off, still smiling away to whatever it was he was thinking of. Amy followed, wondering what it was. She didn't have to wait too long.

"Amy..." he spoke up as they took a detour back towards the station from some alleys down the side of shops. "...if you had the chance, would you like it if Laelapmon was real?"

"Real?" she started, giving him a strange look. "Back at home, you said Manimon was very real, real emotions and intelligence... I feel Laelapmon is the same... is she not real?"

"Of course she's real, her existance is real, but what I mean is... do you wish that she was real-real, as in, right here and now, with you? Physically here before you, real."

Amy averted her gaze as she felt her cheeks suddenly grow very hot at this question. As a kid, she'd always believed in things like fairies and monsters and mythological creatures, she'd even had an invisible friend when she'd been -really- young, and she'd always wished they were real. Whilst she'd never quite grown out of loving fairies and creatures, she'd stopped wishing once she'd grown old enough to tell the difference between fantasy and day dreaming, and that no matter how hard she'd wished for these things to be real, they simply never would be... meeting Laelapmon had brought that back. Yes, she wished Laelapmon was physically here, real, and with her, but she wasn't sure how to tell this to Joey. He might just be teasing her, anyway, she thought.

But Laelapmon was giving her this deep-set feeling of longing, almost as if she had found something that had been missing for such a long time, and she'd come along at such a difficult point in Amy's life, too... speaking, even briefly, earlier, had taken the edge off of the sadness and worry in her heart that had been plaguing her for quite some time. If Laelapmon could be real... if a miracle happened and she was really real... Then it would be the happiest she'd ever been in a long time. It felt as if she and Laelapmon were being drawn together, like this meeting had been supposed to happen.

Joey didn't need to hear her voice to know that the answer was 'yes', he could see it in her face.

"My grandfather worked with Arch Angel for many years, enough to know the truth about these assistants... actually, they're not even that- they're called-"

"Digimon." interrupted Manimon suddenly from the inside of Joey's pocket. "Short for Digital Monsters."

"Yes. And they come from another place, too... the digital world." Joey's expression was a serious one, and he spoke straight-faced as he said this, even Manimon, when he produced the PDA from his pocket, was completely serious, all the sarcasm and jokeyness from his voice gone.

"I... this is a game, surely, you're having me on-" Amy said, the feeling of anticipation having come back with avengeance.

"This is no game, Amy..." Joey murmured, suddenly taking a few steps back. "...let me show you. They're real."

Holding his PDA out, he spoke out in a clear voice: "Digi-Realize!"

His PDA suddenly seemed to burst with light, the entire screen glowing, and the surroundings getting brighter and brighter, until Amy had to shield her eyes with her arm, rooted to the spot with shock and confusion. When the light faded, and her eyes recovered from the brightness, she looked back over at Joey... only, he wasn't alone.

Manimon was standing in what had previously been an empty space, every bit as real as they were, right there. Amy stumbled forward, too awestruck to be able to find her voice... she reached her shaking hand out, and placed it on top of Manimon's head, running it gently down his face and onto his chest. He was soft, furry and warm... truly real.

"That tickles!" Manimon laughed, squirming a little sensitively from her touch, his ears twitching. "Are you okay, Amy?" He asked, looking concerned.

the look Amy gave them both made it clear that she eagerly wanted to see Laelapmon in the flesh, too. Joey nodded, and took her hand, holding her PDA with her.

"It's a secret only Arch Angel employees are supposed to know about right now. But if you want to see her... all you have to do is activate the function by saying the code, Digi-Realize. It will only respond to your voice, Amy, because she's your partner. Do you understand?"

Amy nodded, and stood up, taking a few steps back. Her mouth had suddenly gone dry, and her legs like jelly. This was really going to happen...

"D-Digi... Digi-Realize!" she called out, holding the PDA out.

The device vibrated violently as light burst from it, filling the alleyway with it's brightness, and when it faded, sure enough, right there... Laelapmon was there, real as real could be. The PDA's colours had changed from the default silver into white and blue, matching Laelapmon's colours. Something very special had happened.

"Amy!" Laelapmon barked, her ears lifting a little in surprise, "what happened?"

"Laelapmon!" Amy cried, her eyes suddenly filling up with tears. The girl who never gave up believing, suddenly handed a 'miracle'. She knelt down, wrapping her arms around Laelapmon and holding onto her tight, tears spilling down her face, that she couldn't explain, but it felt like an emptyness she'd been feeling inside for the longest time was slowly being filled. She could feel Laelapmon's paws holding her shoulders, and her little face pressing into her shoulder.

Manimon placed his paws on his hips and looked up at Joey.

"It reminds me of the first time we met, you know, Joe." he murmured quietly, not wanting to disturb the other pair, "made me feel like I'd found my best friend, even if ya are a bit of a kook!"

Joey smiled and patted Manimon's head, "it eased a lot of worry I felt at the time. Digimon are really mysterious... it's like partners are drawn together. Kind of like destiny. I think we were supposed to meet."

Laelapmon peered over her shoulder at Joey, her tail wagging slightly in agreement.

"It felt like I was dreaming of Amy for as long as I can remember... like someday, she would come for me, and then she did..." Laelapmon looked from Joey to Manimon, "Did you dream of your partner, Manimon?"

"Who, muggins here? Yeah... it felt more like a nightmare, seein' his cheeky face haunt my dreams, but, in the end, he was the reason I was born so... I guess he ain't too bad." Manimon grinned, before having his ear tweaked by Joey "Ouch!"

"Hahaha, you're a cheeky little guy, Manimon. You cried too when you were born, I'll never forget it. I think a lot of people would, meeting their special friend like that." Joey grinned, watching all the white fur on Manimon's face steadily turn bright red.

"M-Men don't cry! Shut up! Y-You're embarrassing me infront of the girls!" Manimon spluttered, looking very embarrassed, before Laelapmon padded over and stood on her hind legs to see even with him.

"I don't see any shame in crying, Mr. Manimon." she said softly, patting her paw against his nose, "I think real men don't care if they're seen crying."

"She got you there, Manimon," said Joey, positively beaming at the little rabbit getting further embarrassed. "and you ARE a real man, aren't you?"

"y-yeah! of c-course I am! geez... you guys have to stop ganging up on me, this ain't fair!" he huffed, turning his nose up to one side with his arms folded in frustration.

"yes, let's leave poor Manimon alone," said Amy, who'd been wiping her eyes, "wouldn't want to make a grown man cry again."

Manimon's jaw almost dropped clean off of his face, "oh no, not you, too, Aimes!"

The other three laughed a little at Manimon, until Joey looked at his watch. "It's getting late, now. We should probably head home."

"Yeah..." Amy said, looking down at Laelapmon. She knew Joey had a job and so wouldn't be available all the time, and hadn't been looking forward to living alone... Laelapmon being there was a reassurance, boosting her confidence. She looked down at the PDA, which she'd not been too focused on since Laelapmon had been brought out into reality.

"Joey, our PDAs changed, why is that?" she asked. It now had several new menus on the screen, things like statistics, form data, encyclopedia, and tracker. "These menus weren't there before, either..."

"Your PDA has become a D-Drive. This isn't something Arch Angel programmed in, it goes beyond their technology right now... as does making the digimon real. A D-Drive is a digivice, or rather, a digital device. When a tamer and their digimon realize their bond, the d-drive becomes a very important tool." Joey said, coming over and inspecting Amy's D-Drive. Laelapmon and Manimon were peering up at it with curiosity, beside their human companions.

"The statistics screen will show you Laelapmon's stats and condition, what sort of health she's in, and has it's own seperate tracker, so you'll be able to find her if you get seperated."

Amy felt a knot suddenly forming in her stomach. Health, seperation... it dawned on her then that even if these beings came from a digital world, to talk like this, would mean they could be hurt or worse... she didn't want to think about this just now.

"Form data... I don't know what this menu is for. It won't even open, for me, it just keeps saying 'No Data Available'. I guess it's still locked out, or something... the encyclopedia is to store information on other digimon you and Laelapmon come across. Here, hold it up to Manimon, and press scan."

Amy did as Joey instructed, holding the D-Drive up and pressing on "scan". The screen suddenly showed a render of Manimon slowly rotating to let her see him in a 3d perspective, and his stats started to load up.

[MANIMON]

Level - Rookie

Attribute - Vaccine

Type - Personified Moon

Family - Nature Spirits

Attacks - Moon Fire, Dazzle

"It might be a little confusing I guess, but it'll make sense with time." Joey said, when a tremor suddenly started up beneath their feet.

"Damn! Those are still happening?" Manimon commented, after it passed.

"Tremors? How is that even possible? Isn't this city on a raised island platform?" Amy asked, holding onto Laelapmon, the tremors having startled the little white dog.

"Yes... and this is another reason why I wanted you to get yourself a partner, Amy." Joey said, his voice suddenly serious. "You can probably guess what I'm going to tell you... an earthquake up here would be impossible, so what do you think is causing the tremors?"

"...oh... you don't mean..." Amy began, giving Laelapmon a concerned squeeze

"yes... it's a Digimon. I don't have time to explain the whole thing right now, but I need to sort this out. " he replied, sliding his glasses back up his nose, before looking down at Manimon. "Are you ready for your field work, Manimon? This could be messy."

"I'm ready as I'll ever be, Joey. Let's not waste any more time lolly-gagging around here, we've got to see our little trouble-maker brought to justice!" said Manimon, flexing himself and giving a few stretches in readiness.

"Mr. Joey... Mr. Manimon..." Laelapmon piped up, walking forward towards them. "I want to come too... I want to help."

"No," Joey began, about to refuse, "It's too dangerous, you could get hurt-"

"Joey... as much as I'm worried about Laelapmon getting hurt... I don't think you should do this alone... at the least, let us come, incase things get bad... it's better than going in alone, right?"

Joey stared at Amy, whose expression made it very clear she wasn't going to have it any other way.

"I know... me and Laelapmon don't know what to expect, but if we're supposed to do this, we have to see for ourselves what the threat is... I don't like the idea of pushing all this pressure on Laelapmon to keep me safe... if I know what we're dealing with, I can make sure I never put us in a bad situation... please, we need to do this, Joey." there was a fire in her eyes Joey hadn't expected to see before.

All her life, Amy had been sheltered or discouraged from trying things others saw might be too dangerous or difficult for her, and now, with Laelapmon, she wanted to be bold, and reach forward.

For Laelapmon, she had a desire to protect Amy. She needed to know she was capable of doing so... Joey and Manimon would be there, so if she got put at a disadvantage on her first fight, she trusted in them to help, just as she hoped they would trust her to help if it was them in danger. And this is why the pair needed to go, too... what if this thing WAS too strong, even for Joey and Manimon? At least this way, they had extra numbers, and a good chance of bailing the other out if things got, as Joey said, 'messy'.

"...alright. But let me and Manimon start first, let you see how things are, and if you're still confident you can do this, you two, then, and only then, should you have a shot. Don't overshoot yourselves, this is something you've never done before, and Laelapmon hasn't adjusted very long, after all..." Joey commented, still concerned, though managing a smile. "This shouldn't be that bad, though, me and Manimon have done plenty of training at the HQ... things should be in our favour."

The little group began to run, following their trackers, which Joey explained picked up on other digimon, and like a radar, would lead them to their targets. Briefly, Joey noticed on his tracker, for a split second, a second dot flickered. He knew this was no blip or glitch... rather than worry the others, he decided to keep his theory to himself; that blip had to be a second Digimon, for sure, and it, too, just for that brief moment, had been tracking the digimon they were following.

* * *

><p>Bounding from roof top to roof top, almost seeming to glide across each gap like he was soaring, the big black dog digimon continued to travel. There was another station coming up, this one being one that had been closed off due to track maintenance. He knew, where he had been tracking the worm for a long time now, that it would go from subway to subway in an attempt to find a good place to begin nesting itself, ideally any place where 'prey' would be plentiful... thankfully, the black dog had driven it away from all the active lines, before anything too dire could happen.<p>

This would be good luck, if Centimon did appear as predicted at this station coming up, it meant he could go all out on it without fear of humans coming along and endangering themselves, and giving him more work to do.

Just as he reached the station, he stopped himself; in the empty street below, he caught site of them. Two humans, a young man, and girl, with... two digimon, in the rookie stage... heading right for the station. The black dog digimon narrowed his eyes, a look of concern showing in his face.

Did they not realize the danger of going down there? Jumping down from building to building, until he reached ground level, he padded in after them, in silence. He refused to let them become the first casualties to Centimon.

11


	2. The Parasite, Centimon!

Episode 2. - The Parasite, Centimon! 

* * *

><p>The lights in the station did not brighten the place up as much as the tamers had hoped. Some of the unused tunnels leading to other platforms that were out of service had no lighting at all.<br>Amy peered down at Laelapmon. Her partner was sticking close to her the whole time, a little nervous, but otherwise looking protective and alert.

"There's a terminal coming up, we might be able to download a subway map onto our D-Drives, it should allow us to get a better idea of where that digimon is." Joey stated as they headed down a flight of stairs.

Amy wanted to say something to break the silence that had fallen over the group, but it seemed like besides the obvious tension in the air, everyone was bracing themselves for the inevitable encounter.  
>A few times, Amy swore it felt like there was a soft shuffling sound down some of the tunnels, but put it down to mice scurrying about... and whilst there had been one or two mice rush past, the shuffling noise was not the same sound as the little scabbling of feet.<p>

"There's the terminal... we must be at the Hub." Joey said, head over to the terminal and booting it up. Several options presented themselves that the average traveller would be interested in, such as time table, weather, time, news... things like that. But Joey was only interested in the map, which he brought up. "This shouldn't take more than a few seconds to transfer onto our D-Drives. We won't need to hook up with cables for this, since the D-Drive has a wireless function..."

Amy held up her D-Drive, the light from the screen providing better lighting than the dim lights in the hub. The map finished downloading in no time, just as Joey said.  
>Just as she was about to ask what should they do next, another tremor hit, this one rumbling close enough to make everyone feel very unsteady. Amy felt her stomach knot up in worry when the hub's lights suddenly cut out.<p>

"Damn, it must have taken out the hub's electricity lines..." Joey muttered, after the tremors ceased. "Is everyone alright?"

"I'm fine..." said Amy quietly, though she didn't feel it. Laelapmon pressed herself against Amy's side, her chin resting on Amy's shoulder. She could feel Amy's nervousness, and was trying to give her a reassuring canine hug.

"Amy... I won't let anything bad happen..." Laelapmon said softly, rubbing her little nose against Amy's cheek.

"I know you won't, Laelapmon..." Amy replied, feeling bad that she'd let herself, even briefly, feel anxious... she was with the others. She had to have more faith in the group.

"Joey..." Manimon murmured, standing stock still. "Something isn't right..."

"What's wrong, Manimon?" Joey started up, before Manimon held up a paw indicating that the group should be quiet.

"There's... someone else down here... they're really close..." Manimon warned, keeping his voice low.

Amy and Laelapmon, as quietly as they could came and stood over with the boys. The hub was a circular room, with multiple tunnels; whatever was supposedly joining them could come at any angle.

"I didn't want to say anything..." Joey suddenly spoke, as the sound of footsteps in the distance became noticeable. "Something's been following us since before we entered, at first, I wasn't too sure, I thought it might have been nothing... but my tracker briefly picked up another digital lifeform..."

Amy's mouth suddenly felt very dry. Shielding her D-Drive's screen in a vain attempt to hide the light from exposing their position, she stared down at the screen and felt her blood run cold.  
>A second dot had appeared on the screen... and it was heading right for them.<p>

"Don't panic... don't panic..." Joey whispered, addressing the group as a whole, "But we're going to have to split up... we need to run."

"Split up?" Amy asked, her anxiety increasing seemingly tenfold.

"We haven't got time to argue about this, any minute now, it'll be here-" Joey started, before getting cut off.

The tunnel they had just come down suddenly showed a large beastly figure running straight for them, it's eyes blazing a bloody shade of red, with something on it's head that resembled a skull.  
>The group felt as if Death itself had been given a form, and this form was hunting them down.<p>

"RUN!" Yelled Manimon, and in a mad scramble, everyone dispersed.

Amy didn't stop to look back as she ran, Laelapmon keeping up but hanging back behind her protectively, even though her own nerves were getting shot to hell and back again.  
>She couldn't hear Joey or Manimon any more, and began to panic, her heart racing.<p>

"Oh god, Laelapmon..." Amy cried, her legs becoming unsteady from nerves and fear and worry. "I... we shouldn't have run... what if it got Joey and Manimon...? What if it went after them...?"

"Amy..." Laelapmon called up, picking up speed now herself, "Amy... let's stop..."

Coming up to a split in the path between two stations, stations 4 and 5, Amy dropped to her knees.

"Amy... let's look at the tracker..." Laelapmon advised in a soft voice.

"Oh Laelapmon... I feel like such an idiot..." Amy felt terrible that in her haste, she'd forgotten to use the tracker. "I'm terrible at this..."

"No you're not, Amy..." Laelapmon said sadly, nuzzling her face against her tamer, "We didn't know this was going to happen... all of this only happened just today, even I'm scared... but as long as we're together, Amy... I'm not going to be scared... if he shows up, I'm going to give it my all to keep you safe."

"Laelapmon..." Amy murmured, hugging into Laelapmon tightly, "I'm sorry I'm so useless... I'll try to stop freaking out and worrying so much..."

"It's alright, Amy... I know you only worry, because you care about us... and that's not a bad thing..." Laelapmon said, resting her chin on Amy's lap and giving her a reassuring look.

However, their moment of respite only lasted a short while. Seeming to materialize out of the darkness, the black dog digimon, who seemed even bigger and more intimidating in these tunnels, appeared. It was too late to run away... they were trapped. 

* * *

><p>"I think we made it..." Manimon sighed, as he leaned up against the wall for support, panting from all the running.<p>

"This is not good... Amy and Laelapmon are out of range, and that monster's dot had randomly vanished again shortly after we all ran from the Hub..." Joey said, gritting his teeth in frustration. This was not going to plan, and now he felt responsible for leaving Amy and Laelapmon in danger.  
>"This was a mistake... we're going back, Manimon. I've got to find them."<p>

"Wait, Joey..." Manimon said, still gasping for breath where he wasn't use to running as hard as he had been. "What if the other digimon is still there? It looked so strong..."

"Regardless if it's still hanging about, we left them behind... why on earth did I suggest we split up? I... I had been betting on it coming after us. If it had been after us, surely, it would have showed up by now... so if it's not here, then it went after Amy and Laelapmon." Joey rubbed at his temples where he could feel his head pounding from stress, anxiety and frustration. "This is all my fault..."

"Joey... don't beat yourself up... they wanted to come and help us, and besides, Laelapmon will keep Amy safe, I'm sure of it. Just as you know I'll keep you safe... so stop worrying, alright? This ain't like you, Joe." Manimon said, straightening himself up. "If you still want to go back and check, then I'm game."

"Thanks, Manimon..." Joey sighed, managing to get himself back on track. "I only hope nothing bad happened to them-"

Suddenly, the biggest and loudest of tremors ripped through station 3, causing everything to shake and shudder about. The ceiling of the tunnel began to collapse, and Joey was forced to run for his life to avoid the ceiling coming down and nearly crushing him.

As he turned back, he realized the tunnel had been so heavily clogged with debris that it had cut him off from Manimon.

"MANIMON!" Joey yelled, rushing back after the shaking had stopped "MANIMON, PLEASE ANSWER ME!"

He began to pull and dig through the wreckage, but the whole pile was so unsteady that more threatened to come tumbling down, and he was forced to stop.

"Manimon..." Joey called out, this time a little weaker, as he felt his already tight throat tightening further to the point he felt choked.

"I'm... I'm alright, Joey..." Manimon's voice sounded from beyond the rubble, followed by few coughs from the dust which was still swirling around him. "But I don't know if I'll be alright for much longer..."

"Manimon! What's happened?" Joey called out, a horrible sinking feeling taking hold of him.

"Well... about that, Joey..." Manimon said, in a grim tone of voice. "I'm... not exactly alone, on my end, anymore... I have bad company..."

Pressed against the wall near to the now sealed off tunnel, Manimon stared up numbly into the gaping maw of Centimon, who had steadily been closing in like a cat cornering a small mouse the entire time. 

* * *

><p>"Don't come any closer!" Laelapmon barked up, her whole body tensed up defensively, where she now stood infront of Amy like a small shield, her tamer's only protection.<p>

The big black dog stared down at Laelapmon with it's intense, red-hot stare.

"And what if I did?" was simply his response. "You would fight me, at your level?"

"I... I would try... if it means keeping Amy safe!" Laelapmon growled, every inch of her being bracing herself ready to fight.

"What do you want from us?" Amy asked weakly, feeling scared. She wanted so hard just to run away, but she made a promise, and promise or no promise, she would not leave Laelapmon behind.

"What do I want? For a start, I want you both to calm down." the big black dog digimon stated, before suddenly sitting down infront of them, perhaps to show that he was not as evil as they had perhaps been expecting. "Secondly, I had come down here to stop you from endangering yourselves, but in your foolish haste, you and your friends ran before I could stop you, and now you are all in a bad situation."

"A bad situation? What do you mean?" Amy asked, suddenly feeling sick for a different reason now, as she knelt down beside Laelapmon, stroking her ears in a bid to pacify her partner's tenseness.

"The digimon you and your friend are tracking is a very dangerous one. It's unlike anything you will ever experience." the dog digimon began. "It can not be reasoned with. It feels no emotion, no mercy, no pity, no remorse for those it hurts... and kills. It is a digimon driven only by the desire to fight, ceaselessly. And you and your friend, in your foolish bid to play heroics, stumbled into an area where it is in it's element."

"How... how did you know we were tracking it? How do you know how dangerous this thing is?" Amy asked, holding onto Laelapmon tightly, where she felt her heart sink at the thought of Joey and Manimon possibly being in danger.

"There is no other reason I can think of why two Tamers and their digimon would head to a closed train station, other than to track down a target. That is how I know." the black digimon mused, bowing his head slightly, the skull helmet on his head concealing his bright red eyes. "And I know how dangerous Centimon, the digimon causing the tremors, is, because I have been tracking it for a while now, and each time, it has escaped from me. It has been causing havoc across subways and sewers here for over a week or so, now."

"Amy... I think Joey and Manimon are..." Laelapmon whispered, her voice tight and husky where she had been growing very worried as the conversation went on.  
>"Please, mister digimon..." Amy asked, after seeing the big dog stand back up, ready to move off back down the tunnel. "Please, help us save our friends..."<p>

"You shall address me as 'Barghestmon' if you insist on addressing me." the black dog stated, with his back to them. "And it is not my responsibility to shepherd and save every human stupid enough to put himself, knowingly, into the danger zone."

Amy suddenly felt anger boiling away inside her. Running ahead of him with Laelapmon, she blocked him off, staring into his red eyes. She didn't feel afraid anymore... just a grim determination.

"If you want to go back, you'll... you'll have to fight us." Amy began. She didn't care if Barghestmon thought her 'stupid', even if their power was not enough to stand a chance against him. "But Joey is my friend, and we came down here to stop the tremors. We didn't want to let him go alone... but he and Manimon are here because they wanted to help, to do the right thing, for the sake of the people that live here. Not for glory, not for heroics... but to do the right thing... and if Centimon keeps getting away from you, maybe rather than walk away from me, you'll take us with you, and help us... and let us help you stop this thing! And if you still think of us all as being foolish, so be it... but we're trying to do the right thing... and that's not a terrible thing to want."

Barghestmon paused, his expression an otherwise unreadable one. After mulling this over, he voiced his reply.

"I think you are very foolish... but perhaps also very brave. If you are willing to give yourself, every ounce of your being into this, then come along. But if you are not serious about this threat that is affecting this city, if you can not commit yourself to this... then go home. This is no place for half-hearted fighting."

"I have no intention of running away... not any more." Amy fired back, walking beside Barghestmon, with Laelapmon between them. "I'm not going to let something like Centimon just go around destroying things, and putting everyone I care about in danger."

"And if Amy is going to fight, so will I. Nothing is going to prevent me from helping Amy!" Laelapmon barked up, to show her support for her tamer.

"Very well... let's head back to where that terminal was, and go and find Centimon... and your foolish friends." Amy was about to say something in regards to that, but stopped, when she thought she saw the ghost of a smile on the big dog's face. 

* * *

><p>"Moon Fire!" yelled Manimon, dodging a swipe from Centimon's tail. A ball of silvery white flame charged at the tip of Manimon's horn, before he released it, firing it off into Centimon's face.<br>With a strange, unearthly shrieking hiss, the worm pulled back briefly.

"I've got it backed up, Joey!" Manimon called, perking up where he felt the tide was turning in his favour. "Moon Fi- AAAAGHH!"

Centimon had recovered quickly, his thick segmented tail whipping around to smash against Manimon, sending him flying into the wall.

"Manimon! You've got to get out of there, this is too dangerous!" Joey yelled, still desperately trying to shift through the rubble.  
>He checked his D-Drive, sweat pouring down his face, where he'd been desperately trying to break through to the other side, and from tension. Manimon's icon, which had a green pulsating aura around it to indicate full health, was now a worrying shade of yellow, the aura around the icon growing dimmer, with the pulse spreading from it beating faster, akin to a heart beat.<p>

He checked the map again, to keep track of what was going on. Manimon's icon was jittering slightly in place, so he was still moving... he must be trying to get back on his feet, Joey thought.  
>The large dot representing Centimon was turning itself around to face Manimon.<br>Joey noticed a branching tunnel leading from that station further down the rail lines, and got an idea.

"Manimon, can you hear me? Run down the rail line, one of the tracks will bend off to lead to an area where they keep the trains if they break down, I'm going to try to get inside, meet me there!" he called, as he began to run. "And for the love of god... do not die."

He wished he didn't have to run like this, but this might be the only chance he had to get Manimon out of there and by his side.

"Dazzle!" yelled Manimon, after steadying himself. His head was pounding, and his vision was blurring, but he'd heard Joey enough to know what he had to do.

Light bright enough to match light levels with the sun suddenly filled the room as Manimon's horn gave off a bright, white light. Centimon howled in it's unearthly voice, as it became blinded from the flash. This was all Manimon needed to start speeding away down the train tracks after diving off the platform. 

* * *

><p>Joey burst up the stairs and into the hub, before running head first into Barghestmon's chest, where his eyes had been glued to the map screen and track on his D-Drive.<p>

"Joey!" Amy yelled, appearing shortly after, from the tunnel behind Barghestmon, running over to help him up. "I'm so glad you're alright... we just came to help you!"

"What's going on? Where's Manimon?" Laelapmon asked, staring about worriedly after noticing the last member of the group was absent.

"There was a cave-in... tunnel collapsed... Manimon got trapped on the other side, something big is attacking him..." Joey gushed impatiently, "I told him to run down the train tracks and meet me at the carriage maintenance room, where the train carriages are taken when they break down, it's the room nearest to where Manimon and that thing are..."

"Centimon..." Barghestmon growled, startling Joey a little bit. "your partner is in grave danger. I do not have time to explain right now, young man, but for the moment, we are allies."

Joey seemed uncertain at first, but he did not have the time to consider if he could trust the dog that had startled them all into running off in the first place, right now.

"Follow me, we have got to get to the maintenance room, or... I don't want to think about what could happen to Manimon.." and with that, Joey tore off down another tunnel following the map on his D-Drive. 

* * *

><p>"NO! What the hell?" Joey pounded his fists uselessly against the thick security door that had halted their entry into the maintenance room.<br>The door, and entire room, was bomb proof. As well as train maintenance, any trains bearing suspicious packages were brought here to be inspected in case anything dangerous was on board. The only thing near by was another terminal, this one slightly different from the one back at the Hub.

"I doubt even I could break through something as reinforced as this..." Barghestmon commented. He prowled up and down the length of the gigantic, very thick door.

"Please try, Manimon is depending on this..." Joey begged, looking more and more desperate and upset and frustrated as worry began to tighten it's grip on him.

"I can not promise anything... but stand back." Barghestmon urged, and when everyone was at a safe distance, he focused as much power as he could on the door. "Mauthe Pyre!" he roared, his entire body setting alight with deep, dark flames, before he fired a stream of black and red flame at the security doors.

A wall of flame rose, rapidly engulfing the entire door, before Barghestmon ceased the attack. There were burn holes now appearing where the flames had blistered most of the metal, but metal thicker still lined further behind the layer Barghestmon had only managed to partly destroy.

"It's too thick, I would need a greater level of energy that isn't accessible to me right now to be able to do anything to that door, and trying at my current level, we would not have the time. It would take too long even trying to burn a small hole through. It's completely reinforced." Barghestmon sighed.

Amy had noticed a small vent, a little way back down the corridor... it was too small for a person of Joey's physique, and much too small for Barghestmon... but for someone with Amy's build, she was confident she'd be able to get through, and it would be no problem for Laelapmon.

"Laelapmon... could you help me get the vent grill off?" Amy asked. Seeing Barghestmon attack the door, surely something like a grill would be no problem.

Laelapmon looked at the grill, and took aim with her technique. Wind seemed to swirl around her form, and take the shape of white blades.

"Gale Blade!" Laelapmon called, her ears fluttering in the breeze that came seemingly from nowhere.

The white wind-knives burst forward and struck the vent, completely slicing it to pieces.  
>Amy didn't hesitate to kneel down and crawl through, with Laelapmon following.<p>

"Amy? Where are you?" Joey called, turning from where Barghestmon and he had been trying to come to some form of agreement as to what they should do, and on seeing neither Amy or Laelapmon present, rushed back, completely passing by the vent.

Barghestmon padded after him, sniffing. He could pick up Laelapmon's scent on the ground, and noticed the vent that the dark had partially concealed from them.

"They went through here..." Barghestmon informed Joey, when he ran back, looking worried. "Obviously, they've gone through as a bid to reach Manimon..."  
>"AMY!" Joey yelled down the vent, but silence was all that met him. They must already have got through inside.<p>

"All we can do is wait for word..." Barghestmon said quietly, turning back to the door. "I've tried all I can, but we will not get through that way."

"I'm... I'm going to try hacking the terminal..." Joey suddenly said, heading back over to the security door. He booted it up, and connected his D-Drive up to it. As an employee of Arch Angel, he'd learned a thing or two about accessing things he wasn't supposed to be able to get in, though he'd had his reasons for doing so, this would be the first time he would be hacking into something outside of Arch Angel.

Barghestmon simply stood behind him, watching carefully. He had a feeling this was not going to work. 

* * *

><p>Amy pushed the grill down, and crawled out into the vast open room, which hadn't suffered any damage from the tremors thanks to the reinforcements embedded into the room's structure. Laelapmon appeared shortly afterwards, shaking herself clean of dust and dirt.<p>

Empty trains were left standing down respective lanes in the underground roundhouse, and some taken up onto raised platforms for fixing the undersides.

The ground rumbled underfoot, and Amy took cover behind a train, with Laelapmon pressed against her side cautiously. Peering around the side of the carriage, she could see the giant parasitic worm, Centimon, looming up, looking around restlessly. Manimon must be inside somewhere, hiding, she thought.

Amy placed a finger against her lips to signify they had to be quiet. Moving forward closer to Centimon using the carriages as cover. Just as they passed by the second train, two paws reached out and grabbed Amy, one covering her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Blinking after the shock passed, Amy noticed it was Manimon, who was pretty roughed up.

"I took shelter in here... he hasn't found me yet, but it won't be long, I guess... what are you doing here?" he whispered, getting them both inside the train, where they all laid low against the floor, trying to keep hidden.

"There's a thick security door, we couldn't get through... me and Laelapmon managed to get through a vent..." Amy whispered.

Laelapmon raised her ears ever so slightly.

"I can't hear anything... it's gone completely silent..." she looked over at Amy and Manimon worried, lowering her ears again, "this feels really unsettling..."

Amy crawled back over to the door, and peered out. There was nothing she could see either side of her that seemed off... until she felt like it was suddenly growing darker. Looking up, she just barely registered something coming down at her.

Pulling herself back quickly, Amy stared in horror as a two-pronged tail smashed down into the concrete, jamming itself in. Amy shuddered at what that might have done, had it hit her.

"Out! Everyone, out of the train!" she shrieked, barely able to think as she ran, trying to get the others out of the way.

The three managed to run only a short distance before Centimon pulled his tail free of the ground, head-butting the train they had just been standing in.  
>Laelapmon saw it coming, and for her, the world seemed to slow down. She threw herself at Amy, pinning the girl down on the floor, as the train soared over them; had she not done this, it may have hit Amy.<p>

"Laelapmon..." Amy gasped, a little winded from her fall "thank you..."

"Damn! It's caught up with us!" Manimon shouted, as Centimon came thundering towards them at an alarming rate, stretching open its leech-like mouth in readiness.

"Sonic Boom!" Laelapmon yelled, firing of a concentrated burst of air like a cannon ball from her mouth, wind trailing from it as it rammed into Centimon. The loud booming sound giving off by her attack made it fly into a frenzy, as it whipped it's tail back and smacked Laelapmon flying into the side of a train.

Amy screamed and ran after her, temporarily forgetting about Centimon. She knelt down beside Laelapmon's side, not wanting to move her in case she caused any more damage. Laelapmon was shaking from the hit, her eyes not focusing straight and her head spinning.

"I-I'll be okay, Amy..." Laelapmon muttered weakly, attempting to get back up, stumbling and slipping, as Amy helped her up.

Centimon, still enraged from Laelapmon's attack, went to strike again.

Manimon saw this coming, and saw that the girls were not able to escape, selflessly rushed in, disregarding his own safety in order to save them. The segmented tail of Centimon wrapped around his little body, and began to tighten and cut off any attempt to move.

Amy screamed out, grabbing anything to hand, debris from the wrecked train, and throwing it at Centimon, but it did no good.  
>Laelapmon weakly tried to summon her Gale Blades, and even though it left deep cuts in Centimon's body, where streams of data particles began to burst, it was so far gone in it's anger that nothing would stop it from getting a kill in.<p>

Manimon could do nothing except scream in agony. 

* * *

><p>Joey hadn't been able to crack through the coding that would open the door. The only thing he had accomplished was hacking into the cameras, and the intercom made for making announcements to all around the station.<p>

Sweat poured down his face, but his skin was icy cold, and he'd gone pale staring at Manimon on the monitor, slowly being squeezed to death by Centimon.

"I... how can it be so strong...?" Joey breathed, his voice shaking. "I know digimon get through, all the time... this... this isn't the first time Manimon and I fought off a rogue digimon that got into the real world... why is this one so..." there were no words Joey could form to describe the horror he was feeling, seeing the murderous shine in Centimon's eyes, and how it would not stop at anything to fight...

"It is infected by a virus, a bad one that once a digimon falls prey to, once their mind is in the virus' grip, they can not be saved by normal means, and there is no solution that I found that could rid the host of the virus..." Barghestmon murmured, watching the screen. "Manimon is almost done for... but there is still something you can do, something only a Tamer can provide..."

Joey stared at Barghestmon, his expression one of desperation and misery.

"Tell me. Tell me what I have to do... I don't want Manimon to die..."

"Then, Tamer, you must send him your strength. Send him your hope... you must create a miracle for Manimon, and initiate the next phase of his growth." Barghestmon said, in a voice rather soft for something so intimidating looking.

"How do I do that?" Joey snapped, staring back at the screen. He could see Amy sobbing, holding onto Laelapmon, who was also in a rough shape, desperately using up all her energy in vain to try to get Manimon free. Manimon was laying limply in Centimon's hold, his eyes closed, almost like he'd given up... just seeing that look on his face was the most painful thing Joey had ever seen in his life, and it made him boil with rage at Centimon's destructiveness.

"Manimon..." Joey suddenly began to speak, through the loud speaker, as he clutched his D-Drive. "I'm so sorry... I couldn't find a way through the door... I couldn't save you..."

He reached out, and touched his hand against the screen, against Manimon's face.

"...You helped me out so much, and together, we stopped a lot of bad digimon... we weren't doing it because it was our job... we did it to keep people safe... this is the hardest fight we've ever had to fight through... and though it scares me, Manimon... I don't want to give up hope..."

Manimon felt his mind going dark, and everything around him seeming to grow faint... the only thing he could hear were Joey's words, which seemed to be audible deep inside his head, and inside his heart.

"We can't give up, Manimon... that's what you taught me, during the times when I first started work at Arch Angel, when I never thought I'd find the answers... you told me to keep going, because we'd barely begun... and our friendship is the same, Manimon... it's barely begun... I don't want to lose you to this!"

Joey suddenly felt his D-Drive vibrate and glow fiercely, as it reacted to his plea to reach Manimon. Staring at the screen, he saw Manimon's body begin to glow and change shape in a burst of light. 

* * *

><p>Centimon seemed to grow afraid of the piercing light, a light that was warm and strong. Recoiling back, it's hold on Manimon's body loosened.<p>

Amy had to shield her eyes as she and Laelapmon stared up at what was happening.  
>"Manimon, digivolve to...!"<p>

His voice rang out and echoed around the vast room, light filling up every inch, every nook and cranny. Nothing remained in shadow.

"DVERGAMON!"

Where Manimon once was, there now was something different. a brown and red rabbit digimon with a large black turbine for a tail, and sharp, powerful drills on it's arms now stood, with flaming exhausts on the end of it's ears.

"Moljnir Megaton!" Dvergamon roared, firing up his drill and then piercing it straight through Centimon's body, cutting it's tail clean off.

Centimon shrieked in agony and backed off. Suddenly, Barghestmon's voice could be heard on the loud speaker.

"Everyone, get out onto the tracks again, we're going to seal him inside the room."

Amy grabbed a hold of Laelapmon and carried her out as fast as she could over her back, Dvergamon rushing after them.

Centimon's tail still wriggled madly about, even though it had been separated from the rest of it's body. It made a mad dash after the trio, as the doors began to shut, with the warning siren blaring to signify the doors in action. Joey had managed to trigger the panic button to get the room to go into lock down mode.

Amy looked over her shoulder and gasped as the door hadn't closed enough to block Centimon, who was dragging itself at them where the loss of it's tail had affected it's balanced. It rammed it's head through the gap remaining to snap at them, before the heavy doors clamped down on it, bursting it's head apart in a cloud of data particles.

The three escapees let out a sigh of relief, and began heading back to station 3. 

* * *

><p>Dvergamon had cleared the rubble that had blocked him and Joey before, as the effect wore off, and he transformed back down to Manimon, staggering forward into Joey's arms from exhaustion.<p>

"You scared me for moment back there, Manimon..." Joey murmured, managing to smile for the first time after all this time.

"I had you to guide me, Joe... thank you." Manimon said, in a voice showing genuine care, with no shred of his usual sarcasm.

"It'll be dawn by now." Barghestmon stated, as they began heading back up. "Your digimon need rest."

"Barghestmon... there's still a lot of things I'd like to know..." Joey said, when they got out.

"I want to know, too... me and Laelapmon intend to find out what's happening around here, and do our best to help..." Amy added.  
>"I understand, but for now, this is neither the time nor place for discussion. Go home and get rested." Barghestmon said. "Scan me with the D-Drives before you go, so you'll be able to identify me on your trackers for next time."<p>

The tamers did as instructed, getting up his data, but both were too tired to check in-depth, not that Barghestmon seemed to care either way.

After Barghestmon departed off, Joey showed Amy another command for the D-Drive, "Digitize", which stored Laelapmon and Manimon back inside their D-Drives.

"After I set Laelapmon's, um, home up, inside the terminal, it will put her into auto-heal mode, and she'll recover her health, kind of like a recharge period." Joey said, after they got back to their apartments.

Amy watched as Joey set the terminal up, and Laelapmon wandered around the screen with curiosity, batting at the cursor with her paw.

"Can you try the lights for me?" Joey asked Laelapmon, just to make sure she'd been "installed" correctly.

"OK, Mr. Joey." Laelapmon replied, giving the lights in Amy's apartment a flash.

"Yeah, she's got in safe and secured. Let the system do the rest for her. I'll pop in tomorrow after work to see how you're getting on." Joey said, after getting out of the front door.

"Alright... thanks again, Joey..." Amy said, rubbing her arm a little, looking back at the terminal.

"Actually... I should be thanking you, Amy." Joey responded, looking aside slightly. "I'm glad you came with me... I thought, since me and Manimon do this for a 'living' and off-duty stuff when bad things go down, that we could handle it... but if you didn't come down, it might have ended badly... You covered Manimon for me, when I couldn't, right up to the end... thank you."

Amy didn't know how to reply to that, so she just smiled.

"I want to help out more in future... I'm going to be staying in Japan for a year, and if digimon attacks can get as bad as this, me and Laelapmon need all the help we can get... that Infected one... I guess we were just unfortunate that we started out at the deep end..."

"Yeah... most of the digimon me and Manimon faced aren't as bad as that, we haven't had to destroy too many of them, most of the time we just bring them into the holding cells and then deport them back to the digital world... but I suppose that's something for another day. Good night, Amy."

Amy saw Joey off down the corridor with a wave, "bye, Joey..."

The moment she closed the door, Amy retreated into her bedroom, and feeling very low, cried herself to sleep. Tomorrow, there was someone she had to see.


	3. The Dilemma

Episode 3. The Dilemma

* * *

><p>Amy had been awake since 6am, laying on her back, staring at the ceiling. Her dreams had been all over the place, she hadn't been able to control the flow of them, and they had rapidly spiralled down into the darkest of nightmares.<p>

She had been running down tunnels and corridors in them, reliving the events of the previous night, coupled with her anxieties of the day ahead. She had been mixed up, and her head hadn't been in the game... perhaps she had thought the previous day had been a dream, too? She wished she was still dreaming, and that this day wasn't going to happen. It'd be her hardest one yet.

Forcing herself out of bed, she stumbled to the bathroom, staring off into space as she had her shower. She got through the rest of the morning in the same zombie-like state, unfocused, her thoughts constantly wandering between things.

Laelapmon was sat at the table on a chair stacked up with books so she could see over the table-top properly, since she decided she wanted to sit with her tamer at breakfast. The little dog digimon immediately picked up that something was wrong.

"Amy...? are you alright...?" Laelapmon asked, after finishing off her mouthful of cereal from a little bowl Amy had laid out for her.

"Mmh..." Amy mumbled, leaning on one hand. She wasn't eating, just stirring her cereals round and round in swirling, circular motions. Whatever was on her mind, eating seemed to be the least of her concerns right now.

"Amy... please say something... I'm worried..." Laelapmon said softly, staring up at Amy worriedly.

"It's alright, Laelapmon... I've just... been living outside of reality, the past few days..." Amy sighed, finally seeming to 'join' Laelapmon from out of her thought-zone.

Laelapmon paused for a bit. She felt out of the loop, having barely learned much about Amy. She had yet to learn, for one thing, that Amy had come all the way over from England to do some studies abroad for a bit... and that there was an extra reason her tamer had come so far. There was something in Japan more important to Amy than studying, that was for certain.

Joey knocked on the door at around 7:45am, ready to leave for work.

"Amy, I'm heading out now, can I leave Manimon here? I'm sure Laelapmon will appreciate the company whilst they rest up after yesterday night..." he said, as Manimon let himself in.

"It's alright... I'm heading out, myself, too, so... will you two be alright, here?" she asked the digimon, as she got her coat on and grabbed her bag.

Laelapmon's expression fell, obviously not happy about this, since she was absolutely positive Amy was upset about something, still, but Manimon interrupted, waving his paw up.

"We'll be fine here, I'll show Laelapmon how to run a house and stuff whilst you're gone! So don't anybody worry, OK?" he grinned, mistaking the tension between Laelapmon and Amy as being anxiety over being separated for the first time.

"Alright, well, you two behave, don't go messing anything up in here, or there'll be hell to pay, you know." Joey said, giving Manimon a very suspicious sort of stare, as if this wouldn't have been the first time Manimon had screwed something up in the house, before.

"Oh come on, Joey! It'll be fine! Just go and grab the train already before you're late!" Manimon snapped, doing his best to shoo the human pair out of the house.

"I guess we don't want to be late, huh?" Joey sighed, after Amy had locked the door behind her. He noticed her face, her eyes dark and sore-looking from crying and lack of sleep. He didn't say anything on that subject, but he knew why she was upset. Her father had explained everything to him in private before Amy had even arrived over, and he had decided not to talk to her about this until she was ready.

"No... I guess not..." Amy replied in a barely audible voice, as the pair headed out of the apartments, to get off to the train station. The feeling of dread only seemed to grip on Amy's heart even harder the closer they got.

* * *

><p>Amy accessed her emails on her PDA, as she rode the train now by herself. Joey had got off at the previous stop, so she was now left alone to her thoughts. A part of her felt guilty, since Joey had tried to cheer her up, but she'd been terrible company, barely saying anything in response to the things he'd been saying bar "mm-hmm" and "mmh".<p>

She opened the same email she had been re-reading for the past week or so, trying to stop tears filling in her eyes.

"Amy, it's me. You're not going to believe what happened... I think the adventure I'd been wishing for, for so long, might be happening.

I wish I could tell you what's going on.

I'm going somewhere, far away... I wish you could come too, Amy.

I don't know when I'll be back, or if I can even get back.

But if I get out of this alright, there's something I want to tell you, the next time I can see you in person. Something I always wanted to tell you.

Please take care of yourself.

-Hiro"

She kept re-reading it over and over, trying to make sense of what this email had meant. This message had been the last message she had received from Hiro, before the incident that had happened a few weeks ago.

She was startled out of her thoughts by the sudden arrival at her stop, and getting out of the train, pocketed her PDA and followed the rest of the crowds up the stairs and into the street.

It didn't take her too long to reach the hospital she'd been travelling this way for, and it took even less once inside to be directed up to the right ward. Something that had taken relatively short time, had felt like an eternity to her. Her body felt so heavy, as she followed by the nurse leading her up past beds, until they reached the last bed, one by the window, overlooking the city.

Amy shakily sat herself down by the bed, where Hiro laid. He had been in a coma for weeks now, with no signs of coming out of it any time soon. Even if he did come round, his family had told her that they'd found he has a high chance of suffering head trauma... he may not even remember who she is.

This was the hardest thing she'd ever had to face in her life. Hiro had been a part of her life since they had been very small. Their families were very close, and the pair had been inseparable. Whenever something bad had brought Amy down, Hiro had been right behind her, to help her pick up the pieces. He and his family had been there, when Amy had turned 12, after her mother had passed away from illness contracted from her and her father's exploration trip abroad to one of the last remaining jungles left on earth.

He had got her through the darkest moment of her life... and now, here, he was trapped in his darkest moment, and she could do nothing at all to help.

She hadn't believed his mother at first when she had phoned all the way across the world to break the news to them... he had gone missing for a few days from his home, and when he was found, he had apparently been collapsed just outside the hospital, in a coma. It had happened a few days after he had sent that last email, too...

"oh Hiro..." she sobbed, clasping his hand in hers. He looked as though he were simply sleeping, and she had been wishing over and over that he would just 'wake up' out of it, that this wasn't happening... but it _was_ happening, and there was just no telling when this would end.

All anyone would be able to do is wait.

* * *

><p>Manimon watched Laelapmon pacing back and forth near the window for the seventh time now since the others had left. He'd showed her how to work the various utilities and things around the house, manually for when she spent time outside of the terminal, as they were now, and advice for running things when she was inside the terminal.<p>

But each time he'd been showing her how to work something, he'd catch her staring back at the window, or wandering back over to it, lost in thought.

"I know you're worried, but she'll be okay... they don't need to take us out ALL the time, you know, digimon attacks don't happen every single day, and besides, Joey would know about it. Centimon is dead, Amy will be safe, OK? Try to relax already, Laelapmon." he sighed, climbing up onto the sofa.

"That's not it... I know me and Amy aren't joined at the hip. Humans like their space. But last night, before she went to bed, she looked so sad... I thought I heard crying from her room, but she'd locked the door and I couldn't get in... and this morning, it was like she was lost deep in thought... she was in the room with me, but she felt so far away, too... I don't know what to do, Manimon... she won't tell me what's wrong." Laelapmon let out a sigh, her gaze fixed on the window the entire time.

Manimon slid back down off the sofa and walked over, jumping up and pulling the door handle to the balcony down. Both digimon shuffled out onto the balcony and sat, watching the world go by.

All of the humans below, living their lives. Each of them with their own problems they had to face.

"Are all humans so... troubled?" Laelapmon asked, after a moment of silence had passed.

"I think everyone has troubles, Laelapmon... I guess it's not so much having troubles, it's how they cope or fix the problems affecting their lives. Joey has problems, too, but he has things to help him cope... like his obsessiveness with tidying the house over and over, it's how he takes his mind off of things." Manimon replied, his legs hanging down over the side of the railings. "Sometimes they can't fix what's wrong in their lives right away, so they focus on something 'temporary' that takes their mind off of it."

"But what if Amy can't find something that helps her cope? What if I can't get through to her? I wish I was better help to her..." Laelapmon replied, still looking worried. "Manimon... what if I'm not the right partner for her...?"

Manimon looked taken aback by this, and turned his head sharply, staring down at her with disbelief.

"Why would you doubt yourself like that? You're perfect for Amy! Listen, I know you're like really, really new to all this... but you and Amy are just getting to know each other, after all! Give it some time, when you get to know Amy better, you'll know what you can do to help her best... alright? Please, Laelapmon. Don't stress yourself out over this. She'll tell you what's wrong when the time is right... it took me a while before I learned about Joey's life, too, you know."

"I suppose so..." Laelapmon sighed, clumsily climbing up beside Manimon on the little glass-top table on the balcony, next to where Manimon sat.

They continued to watch over the city from the balcony, enjoying the cool breeze flowing past them, until something happened to catch Manimon's attention, his ears twitching, and his sharp, alert eyes catching sight of something below.

A small black fox digimon, with two fluffy tails, could be seen stalking across the car park below.

"Hey, that looks like a digimon!" Manimon whispered to Laelapmon, suddenly leaning low, and pushing poor Laelapmon flat down on the table to keep themselves 'covered' from view. Laelapmon let out a soft whimper from the sudden handling of being squashed down flat, but Manimon didn't seem to hear it.

"Who or what is it?" she asked back quietly, trying to wriggle free from under Manimon's arm to get a better look at the dark-coloured digimon they were trying to observe.

"I think it's at the rookie stage, like us... we should follow them, find out what they're doing here!" Manimon murmured, an excited glint in his eye at the prospect of something exciting finally happening, having spent most of his days off doing nothing productive.

"Didn't you learn anything from last night?" Laelapmon asked wearily, "besides, Joey and Amy won't like it if we wander off again... you know how worried Joey got when you and he got separated during the fighting... what if things go wrong, what if-"

Manimon pressed his paw over Laelapmon's mouth to hush her, before speaking again, his eyes still fixed on the fox digimon.

"We're only going to check this out and see what happens, just in-case it's an enemy, if it's nothing to worry about we'll come back up... second, there's two of us and only one of them, so we've got the advantage! So ya see, Laelapmon, it's all in our favour... and it's my job as well as Joey's to keep the city safe, so I have a duty to do for the city!" he exclaimed, patting his chest proudly.

Laelapmon could see multiple problems with this plan, but before she could stop him, Manimon launched himself down from the balcony, descending down steadily by jumping between balconies and ledges on the side of the apartments.

"Manimon, wait!" Laelapmon called out, following down after him as best she could, stumbling a few times in her haste. On a third story balcony, she'd failed to land properly, and slipped. Tumbling down through thin air, she quickly began to flap her ears, causing wind to swirl up around her, rapidly slowing her descent.

Managing to hover just for a few seconds before reaching the ground, she touched down, shaking herself over from nerves. Her legs shook under her, from anxiety and worry about Manimon's plans, barely having time to register seeing him taking off across the car park after the fox digimon, who looked alarmed, but was quickly fleeing down a near-by alleyway behind more apartment buildings.

"Hey! Wait the hell up, and tell us who you are!" Manimon yelled, his strong lapin legs pushing him forward, enabling him to start closing the gap between himself and the black fox digimon, reaching out his paws, he'd almost be able to grab one of the fox's tails-

when suddenly, in a burst of black smoke, the fox vanished. Manimon, moving too fast to stop, went sliding forward out of control, and crashed, knocking over several trash cans in the process.

Laelapmon padded into the alleyway, and had managed to catch the tail end of this escapade happening. She headed down the alley, following a particular scent she had caught up on...

Forgetting about poor Manimon, who was upside down against the wall, and trying to get himself free from being buried under a heap of trash, Laelapmon followed the scent trail, which trailed off from where the fox had vanished, to one side, ending behind a dumpster just around the corner to where they were.

The shadows in this place were dark, and Laelapmon could notice the scent strongest here... but failed to see the fox, until the shadows themselves seemed to move towards her, the fox forming out of them, until the fox pressed it's nose right up against Laelapmon's.

"Boo~" the fox digimon said suddenly, which caused an already surprised Laelapmon to stumble over herself and fall backwards. The fox simply laughed, stepping forward, looking her over, before glancing off down the side alley to where Manimon was just getting himself upright.

"That is so typical of men, overshooting the mark like that." the fox sighed, rolling her eyes. "And you put up with him?"

Laelapmon got back onto her feet, and opened her mouth to reply, before Manimon woozily came dashing up towards them, crashing into Laelapmon and knocking himself and her back over.

The fox took note of Manimon having landed right on top of Laelapmon, making it look like he'd pinned her down.

"And it's also typical of men to be over-eager on the first _date_, too." she smirked, walking around them with a playful look in her eyes.

Manimon's face seemed to erupt from white to bright red in a matter of seconds from her statement, as he jumped off of Laelapmon as though she'd been on fire.

"Hey, I'm not over-eager, fox-face!" he growled, feeling humiliated at having slammed himself into a wall and essentially making a fool of himself twice.

"I notice that you didn't deny that you're on a date, though, bunny-boy." the fox replied, smirking again. She seemed to be taking great amusement in all of this, especially Manimon's increasingly frustrated and embarrassed reactions.

"If you don't shut your mouth, I'll shut it for you!" he snapped, flexing his paws agitatedly, wanting to fight right there and then, but Laelapmon got in-between them both.

"Easy, tiger." the fox replied casually, waving her paw at him in a dismissive way.

"Who are you, and why are you hanging around here?" Laelapmon asked, tilting her head slightly, not understanding Manimon's increasing hostility towards the fox.

"I'm Cadmemon, and that's none of your concern, puppy." the fox replied, her tails curling around herself. "Because if I told you, I wouldn't be allowed to let you live~"

"Hah... whatever. You're up to something, I bet you're an illegally gained one, not even registered by Arch Angel..." Manimon sighed, folding his arms.

Cadmemon's fur bristled up, her cool-as-a-cucumber attitude quickly melting into seething anger, as she pounced onto Manimon, pinning him down.

"Arch Angel? Don't even dare to say that name around me, bunny-boy..." she growled, digging her claws into his chest slightly.

Manimon groaned in pain, but said nothing. Whatever was happening, this digimon had a grudge against Arch Angel, that much was certain.

Laelapmon tugged on Cadmemon's tails, managing to pull her off.

"please, Cadmemon... we fought with Centimon, the digimon causing all the tremors and destruction to the subway lines, last night, and it put our tamers in danger... we were worried you might be an enemy Digimon..." Laelapmon explained, wishing the tension between the fox and rabbit would die down soon.

"...you fought with Centimon?" Cadmemon asked, giving them an incredulous look. "We've been tracking him for a while, and you two wet-behind-the-ears rookies just came and thought you'd have a go fighting it? I find that hard to believe..."

"We didn't just fight it, we killed it." Manimon exclaimed, a smile forming on his face, "what, does that burn you up, foxy? That a bunch of us 'rookies' killed your big, bad Centimon for you? Well, you can get back to me any time now with your gratitude, it's all in a day's work."

Laelapmon wasn't liking where this was all going, with the tension and aggression between the pair becoming almost choking.

"Our tamers helped, but it wasn't easy..." Laelapmon added, shooting Manimon a sharp glance. She wished he would calm down and be a bit more humble, especially since Centimon had been very, very dangerous. "I... It may have been a bit out of our leagues, but... with the help of our tamers, we all got through, in the end..."

"I'm sorry, what? 'Get through'? Centimon is dangerous, it's wiped out countless digimon that have got through into the real world, and the virus on it kept making it reform and regenerate it's health from it's injuries..." Cadmemon replied bitterly, starting to head off. "Whatever, if you're lying, I'll find out about it."

"Oh no you don't, fox-face. You don't just turn and walk away from me!" Manimon suddenly leapt forward, wrapping one arm around Cadmemon's chest, and the other around her stomach, restraining her. "I don't trust you one bit, I'm keeping you captive, you know a lot about these things and seem to know things about Arch Angel, so I want answers!"

"There's only one problem with that, bunny-boy..." Cadmemon murmured, glancing over her shoulder at him slyly "You've yet to catch me." and in another shadowy burst of smoke, she'd vanished once more, reappearing further up ahead. She waved her tails at them teasingly, before tearing off down another alley.

"Damn it!" Manimon growled, rushing after her once more. Laelapmon sighed, taking off after them both, wondering what on earth had just happened for them to get involved in yet another mess.

Both digimon pursued their target down every twist and turn she ran down, sometimes seeming to keep up with her, and other times barely keeping up at all. At one point, they reached a dead-end filled with shadows, and were forced to stop.

"It's no use, she could be in any of these..." Manimon sighed, looking between the shaded areas of the alley in dismay. "Laelapmon, can you sniff her out?"

"She's moving too quickly, I'd never be able to pinpoint her exact spot..." Laelapmon replied worriedly, her eyes constantly flitting about trying to keep track of where the scent came the strongest. "If only it weren't so dark, maybe she'd have nowhere to hide..."

"You've given me an idea!" Manimon cried, clapping his paws together excitedly, "Dazzle!"

Light burst from the tip of Manimon's horn, filling up the entire alley with light. There came a pained shriek, and one shadow remaining, reeling slightly in pain. The black cloud-like shroud surrounding Cadmemon's body evaporated off of her, leaving her to glare at the pair in annoyance.

"God, you're annoyingly persistent! You must like bad girls if you've been chasing me this far, bunny-boy." she fired at Manimon, keeping her distance.

"Oh shut up! You're coming with us. I'm going to get you!" he called, pointing his paw at her.

"Ooh, I can hardly wait, bunny-boy..." she smirked, giving him a rather flirtatious smile, waving her tails at him tormentingly. "Well? Come and get it!"

Manimon lost his temper and threw himself at Cadmemon, but she quick-stepped around him swiftly, watching him fall flat on his face.

"Sonic Boom!" Laelapmon yelled, firing off a clear glassy orb of swirling wind energy, which was hurtling right towards Cadmemon.

Cadmemon laughed as she kicked off from the back of Manimon's head, leaping over the shot, which smacked into Manimon and sent him flying into the wall.

"Manimon!" Laelapmon gasped with wide eyes, not having intended for the attack to have even hit him. Cadmemon simply laughed, finding the whole thing hilarious.

"Nice try, puppy." Cadmemon grinned, as she walked past, tickling Laelapmon's chin with the tips of her tails. "This has been fun, but I really have somewhere to be. He's almost here, you know."

"He? Who is 'he'?" Laelapmon asked, shaking her head from the tickling.

Just as this had been asked, there came a loud roaring sound, followed by something being smashed up loudly nearby.

"What the heck is going on?" Manimon yelled over the noise, after hauling himself over, leaning on Laelapmon for support.

"I have business with someone needing their butt kicked." Cadmemon exclaimed, heading off towards the noise "so, if you'll excuse me... it's time to go play with the big boys, now!"

Laelapmon watched her leave, feeling worried.

"It sounds like it could be a digimon attacking... do you think she can handle it on her own?" Laelapmon asked, helping Manimon steady himself.

"Heh... not that I care whether she can or not, but I'm only going because I'm more worried about humans coming to harm." he stated, heading off ahead on his own.

* * *

><p>An Apemon was in another estate's car park, smashing in a car with it's bone club. It's muscles bulged, and fur bristled, with spittle spraying from it's mouth with each unearthly roar that shook through it, it's eyes glazed over and unfocused.<p>

Cadmemon watched it finish with the car, the next swing of the bone club completely shattering in the front windscreen, glittering shards of glass flying out from every direction. The alarm had been going off for a while now, blaring loudly.

"Okay, big boy, you've had your fun, now let's get down to business, shall we?" she called, slinking up behind him. "Shadow Attraction!"

Darkness began to form around Cadmemon's body, as a black shadowy gateway appeared underneath the Apemon's feet. Cadmemon dived down into the black portal, dragging Apemon down with her. Struggling, the Apemon gripped tightly onto the car, hanging on for dear life as black flames licked up his body from the portal, causing him to howl in pain.

Seeing as he was holding onto something too big to be dragged down into the portal, Cadmemon was forced up. The portal retained it's tight grip on the ape's waist, the monkey digimon having sunk half-way into the ground.

"Vile Claw!" Cadmemon called out, as the darkness around her focused itself on her paws, forming large, sharp claw-like daggers, which she began to strike at the Apemon with. This would be over shortly, she thought to herself.

"Hey!" Manimon called, as he and Laelapmon came into sight.

Cadmemon lost her focus in the short moment she'd allowed herself to get distracted by Manimon and Laelapmon, and this was all the time that Apemon needed to turn the tables. Whilst still gripping the car with one hand, he reached around and grabbed Cadmemon's face, lifting her up high, and slamming her head-first into the ground, gripping her head with it's large bulked-up hands tightly, trying to crush her.

She might have called out, had she been able to breathe, now, she was left at the mercy of Apemon.

"Manimon, we've got to do something... that thing will kill her!" Laelapmon cried, getting ready to run over.

"Why should we? She's obviously a trouble maker, and we don't even know if she's trustworthy, considering how she behaved before!"

"It's not just that, that digimon has the same aura about it that Centimon did, though weaker... maybe it's infected with the virus... we have to fight that thing, regardless whether you like the person it's hurting or not... that's the right thing to do, right?" Laelapmon replied insistently, giving him a desperate look.

Something told her Cadmemon wasn't good... but certainly not evil, either.

Manimon sighed and flexed his arms in readiness, running at Apemon, looking frustrated.

"I'm only doing it because it's for you, Laelapmon, alright?"

the digimon pair rushed over, Manimon using Moon Fire at the same time Laelapmon fired off a Sonic Boom, both attacks hitting Apemon at the same time, and knocking it flying into a wall nearby.

Cadmemon shakily got to her feet, shooting them both a glare.

"I could have handled him, you know... I only got caught because you distracted me, rabbit-boy!" she fired off, before turning her gaze back on the Apemon.

"You know, you could've thanked us for saving your life, there!" Manimon called over, feeling annoyed. He couldn't stand Cadmemon, but for Laelapmon's sake he resigned himself to trying to tolerate her.

"Keep focused, he's getting back up!" Laelapmon barked, a series of blades forming out of wind and air she was summoning. "Let's hurry up and finish this before he snaps out of that daze, Gale Blades!"

"Moon Fire!" Manimon yelled, blasting out a burst of silvery-white flame, as Cadmemon launched herself with her shadow-encased claws out-stretched, all three Digimon's attacks slaying the Apemon out-right, where it had yet to finish getting back onto it's feet.

"That wasn't so bad, was it? I think we work well as a team." Laelapmon spoke after the three watched the data rise into the sky and fade off into thin air. The little dog digimon padded over to stand beside Manimon, "Now that's over, what now? Cadmemon doesn't seem like a bad digimon, so can we go home? I doubt there will be any more trouble..."

"I guess..." Manimon sighed. He wasn't ready to just drop this, he wanted Cadmemon to answer the questions he had in mind, which were numerous. What is she doing around here, who is she working for, and what are they planning? He was almost positive nothing good could come out of just letting her go free, but Laelapmon seemed too worried about Amy and Joey finding out they'd left the apartment to care about this right now.

"Hey." Cadmemon called over, "you guys weren't too bad at this, after all... thanks. For the help, I mean." she said, glancing off to the side, "But not for before... I still stand by the fact I would've gotten myself free without your help. My shadow abilities, and all... but..."

Manimon felt his face redden up suddenly when Cadmemon came right up, her nose a mere inch from his,

"Thanks for your concern, bunny-boy." and with that, she teasingly licked his nose.

"OH GOD WHAT? PEW, PFFFFTTT, EW!" Manimon squealed, wiping his nose furiously with his paws, whilst hopping from foot to foot with a glowing red face.

At this moment, however, there came a noise similar to a camera's shutter after it had taken a photograph, and the three stared up in horror at a second digimon to arrive on the scene.

"Damn it!" Manimon yelped, suddenly awash with panic, "That's an Oculusmon, the camera digimon from Arch Angel!"

Laelapmon stared from Manimon to Cadmemon, noticing both were looking horrified. Oculusmon didn't seem too threatening, to her. It was a metallic-blue spherical digimon with long segmented "wings" on either side of it, with two antennae-like ears, a small satellite dish object for a tail, and one large, shiny eye.

It blinked, and the clicking shutter noise could be heard again, as it began to float away from the roof it had been perched on.

"Quickly, we've got to destroy it before it gets back to Arch Angel!" Cadmemon yelled, her and Manimon already tearing off as fast as their legs could carry.

"What is it?" Laelapmon called, trying to chase after the others, not understanding the problem that presented itself to them.

"It's a camera, duh!" Cadmemon yelled, at the front of the trio of runners, "And we're NOT supposed to be outside of our tamer's D-Drives, what do you think will happen if we allow it to get back to Arch Angel and it shows it's maintainers the shots of us it took, messing around out here? They'll identify us and hunt down our tamers, and _take us away from them_!"

"Joey will get in so much trouble, ugh..." Manimon cried, biting his lip hard. He had every reason to be freaking out here, unlike Laelapmon and Cadmemon, Joey was an employee who lacked authorization to be allowed to use the key-word. He feared them both being caught... and more than being separated, he knew that digimon who were 'caught' were hunted down, and...

No... he didn't want to think about that, it was too depressing. Instead, he focused on the present; as long as they could find a way to catch the airborne menace and destroy it, they'd be safe. Joey would keep his job, and the others wouldn't be captured.

"How would they identify us, anyway?" Laelapmon yelled in response, though definitely still worried about this situation, her stomach feeling as though it were full of butterflies. "What if we just ran away from the city?"

"It's not that easy... every digimon born from Arch Angel is on record... even you, Laelapmon... the moment Amy left her imprint on you, the machine you were born in made a copy. It has you AND Amy on that register, like a police file... even if you run away, they'll know about Amy... and they can take back her PDA and track you with it... it's no use..." Manimon groaned, lowering himself to begin running on all fours, something he usually avoided because it made him feel awkward.

But there was no time to feel like that, this was serious, and if it helped him pick up speed, he had to do it. For Joey.

Laelapmon began to feel a sense of desperation, and tried picking up speed. She used her wind-based energy to push forward, and quickly found herself over-taking the other two digimon to get to the front.

Oculusmon had soared down low to avoid washing lines hanging across the alley way they were now chasing it down, and Laelapmon felt that if she jumped at just the right time, she'd be able to catch it...

She took the chance, and made a jump. However, just as she was about to sink her teeth into the Oculusmon's foot, the antennae rod within the dish suddenly pointed straight at her, a red beam aiming itself between her eyes- and a loud wailing siren noise accompanying a powerful series of waves firing out of the dish sent her crashing down onto the concrete.

With her ears ringing in a daze, she could see the blurry figures of Manimon and Cadmemon, forced to leave her behind in the bid to catch up with Oculusmon. She didn't blame them for leaving her behind. The last thing she would have wanted is to slow them down...

* * *

><p>Now it had one less threat chasing it, the Oculusmon began to display a sudden burst of confidence, tormentingly dropping down to the remaining pair's level and then horridly flying up out of reach the moment one of them made a move to grab it.<p>

It flew out towards the street, hovering high over the traffic, seemingly unseen by the pedestrians below. Manimon came screeching to a halt, unsure what to do. He'd be seen for sure if he ran out suddenly. He looked up to see the Oculusmon blink it's sole eye at them, taking yet another shot, as if doing it on purpose to make them feel powerless to stop it.

"Oh forget this, I'm crossing MY way." Cadmemon growled, using her shadow-warping ability to vanish in the blink of an eye, and go shooting through the shadows underneath the traffic, re-appearing on the other side of the road. Manimon could just barely see her climbing up the fire escape ladder to get up onto the roof.

The Oculusmon turned, and seemed to panic, slowly drifting backwards away from Cadmemon to get itself out of reach.

Manimon quickly found himself climbing up the fire escape ladder on the building just to his side, to reach the roof. Oculusmon was still floating backwards towards him, Cadmemon's 'trick' on the other side of the street having surprised it... Manimon intended to give it a further shock.

Cadmemon stared past Oculusmon at Manimon, having caught sight of him climbing up his side of the street, too. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw him standing right on the edge of the roof; poised to jump Oculusmon.

The camera digimon slowly turned, having noticed Cadmemon was staring past it, now, and caught on all too late what the rabbit digimon had been planning to do.

"Maybe Cadmemon can't jump that far... but _I can_." Manimon smirked, launching himself off the edge, his strong legs propelling him forward, right into Oculusmon's face.

The floating digimon began to panic, flapping it's wings and shaking itself in a mad bid to rid itself of Manimon's grip, but the rabbit digimon managed to hold on tight, finding various grooves on it's back to keep a tight grip.

Cadmemon watched in horror as the pair began to arc high up over her head, and then begin a perilous nose-dive down towards a large, flat roof not too far from her. She began to dash after them, jumping gaps or using her ability when jumping would not have been possible in order to keep up.

She needed to help Manimon destroy that thing before it got itself free.

* * *

><p>Amy had been holding Hiro's hand the whole time she'd been there, unmoving, lost in thought.<p>

Quietly, she began to speak to him, whether he could hear or not... she just wanted to talk to him.

"Yesterday, a lot of things, happened... you could say I got to go on an adventure, myself... I made a new friend... I suppose, it's unbelievable, but..." she sighed, trying to stop her voice from shaking.

"Her name is Laelapmon... she's a Digimon. I thought at first she was merely data, but it turned out... she was as real as you and I, Hiro..." Amy felt herself giving his hand a little squeeze as she spoke, "I learned that Japan became home to... bad Digimon, ones so big and imposing that... I felt scared..."

She had been too nervous to look up from his hand, but now she found herself focusing on his face, wishing he could hear her voice, and respond... but this just wasn't possible.

"I rushed into things, because I was confused... but in some ways... I don't regret what happened yesterday, even if I had been so careless... and Laelapmon reminds me of you, in some ways... I suppose it's because I feel safe around her, and she's been trying to do her best, just for me... that's how you're like, too, isn't it?" she said softly, trying to brave a smile down at him, but found her lips beginning to tremble, and was unable to even force a smile.

Her cheeks, which had been cooled by the breeze from the window by his bed were warmed by fresh warm tears building in her eyes.

"Hiro... if you can hear this... please, if you can do this one last thing for me... please get well soon... I don't know how I could carry on with my life, without you in it..."

After another long silence, where she lost herself to her thoughts, she reluctantly began to pack up her bag where she'd gotten herself out a drink some time ago, and left the hospital. Her legs felt heavy and stiff from where she'd been sat down for so long, coupled with her reluctance to want to leave, but she had to get home and check on the digimon.

When she opened her D-Drive outside of the hospital grounds, however, her face fell; Laelapmon's location was nowhere near to being in the apartment, and Manimon was not there. On top of this, a cluster of five dots had appeared on the tracker, near to where Laelapmon was.

* * *

><p>Laelapmon wandered about the city, keeping to alley ways and darkened streets where sunlight couldn't reach. She didn't want to be seen by any of the humans... or any more Oculusmon, if those were about.<p>

Nervously, she headed further away from the noise of the main streets, ending up on another estate. She'd hoped it had been the one near to Amy's apartment, but she didn't recognize any of the buildings.

"I'm so lost..." Laelapmon sighed, sitting herself down underneath a bench, in a small park just outside the apartment blocks.

She stared out at the empty park, suddenly feeling very empty. This was the very first time she'd ever been on her own, and indeed, the first instance she would ever feel loneliness.

What had happened to the others? She'd tried to keep up with them after her fall, but they'd long since vanished. She'd darted out across the road, causing the oncoming traffic to blare their horns at her. Several pedestrians had gasped or called out on seeing her nearly get run over, and she'd just barely made it to the other side, and needless to say, the entire thing had left her shaken and anxious.

She wondered if they had stopped Oculusmon, and what Amy and Joey would say on finding out she and Manimon had gotten themselves involved in trouble, and been caught. She could feel tears building up in her eyes, images flashing through her head; Amy's disappointment in her for doing something so dangerous and stupid, strange darkly-dressed humans in suits coming and dragging her away from Amy...

She suddenly felt the need to look for Amy, and make sure she was alright. Her mind skipped back to earlier that morning, when Amy had been upset. It pained her even more to think she herself might be the cause of further sorrow for Amy, if the others hadn't managed to stop Oculusmon... and if that was the case... she had to find Amy, and spend perhaps her last moment with Amy, before she was taken away.

However, before she could get too caught up in these images, she felt a rough, green hand reach under the bench from behind her, and yank her out from under it by one of her ears, holding her up.

"'Ey, what's dis, 'ere? I fink we found ourselves a lost puppy, guys!" announced the Goblimon holding Laelapmon up painfully by one ear.

Another Goblimon reached out and grabbed her paws, and began playing with them in a silly way, though their tone and stares made Laelapmon feel very uncomfortable.

"I ain't never seen a Digimon like this one, she's yoo-neek, that's wot she is." the second Goblimon stated, with a horrid grin on his face, "She looks all weak and flimsy, eh, eh?"

The second Goblimon began to shake Laelapmon violently, like a rag doll, causing her to snarl and lash out, sinking her teeth into his hand.

"Let me go..." she snarled, glaring tearfully at the group of 5 Goblimon before her. They all sneered, apart from the one she had bitten, who glared back hatefully.

"You horrid little runt, I'll smack some sense into you, you show some respect to our posse, eh?" the next Goblimon spat, smacking his hand across Laelapmon's face, leaving a terrible looking mark on her.

Laelapmon hung limply in the first Goblimon pair's arms, dazed from the hard slap she'd received, before slowly and shakily looking up, glaring back at her assaulter.

"Sonic Boom!" she cried, charging up a shot of concentrated air in her mouth, before blasting the Goblimon in the face, causing him to go skidding backwards across the ground, trailing clouds of dust behind him.

"This 'un is a feisty one, I reckon we could sell her off to some Digimon needing labour..." the fourth Goblimon spoke, as the fifth ran to help his fallen comrade up.

"Yeah, I reckon we'll make a good profit off 'er, finally get some decent eats and some recognition from the big buy back home!" the first Goblimon replied, his second hand coming to grip Laelapmon's throat.

"What are you going to do with me?" Laelapmon managed to whisper, as she felt her air getting cut off, one of the Goblimon producing a strip of cloth as they began to gag her mouth, another getting a length of rope from a small bag of supplies one of the Goblimon had with him, tying her legs together.

"There's a crisis in the Digital World, and it's dog-eat-dog, puppy. You'll make us a fine profit with the strong digimon bosses controlling sections of the digital world that ain't fallen into chaos, once we sell you off as a slave to the highest bidder! There's a few that'd have you as a collector's item for your yoo-neek-ness, hurrhurrhurr!" the fifth Goblimon stated, as they finished binding her.

Amy suddenly appeared around the corner, looking out of breath.

"Get your hands OFF of her, leave her alone!" Amy yelled. There was a fallen branch from a tree near by she noticed, and hurriedly ran for it, feeling it would be wise to arm herself.

"Stop her!" one of the Goblimon yelled, as Laelapmon watched in silent horror, unable to move or help Amy.

One of the Goblimon dived at her, and grabbed onto her ankle, causing her to trip and land on her front, but she managed to just barely grab the branch.

Twisting as best she could, to get onto her back, she kicked the Goblimon attached to her leg in the face, causing him to shriek in pain.

A second Goblimon was trying to get a jump on her, but she managed to knock him away with the branch, however, Amy could not fight off all of them, and bar the one holding Laelapmon, the remaining four had now managed to disarm her.

Pulling her up into a sitting position, they bound Amy's hands and feet afterwards. The group searched her bag for anything edible and to cut off any means she could use to call for back-up, such as a phone or...

"What's this, then?" one of the Goblimon smirked, producing Amy's D-Drive, "It's got the reek of Arch Angel on it, and yet, it's got the smell of good old Digital World, too... whatever, we know where you received this piece of junk, and... what it means for dearest puppy, here..."

"So you're this puppy's precious 'tamer', I take it? Hah... that makes our special little friend the offspring of the scum Arch Angel. Let's show them what we think of Arch Angel 'Digimon'!" the first Goblimon called out, the tone between the group of five becoming darker.

The Goblimon group began to raise their bone clubs up, and in turn, take swings at Laelapmon. She tried in vain to attempt to dodge, but the heavy clubs caught her in heavier blows, whacking her about.

Amy screamed, beginning to tear up all over again, she had no idea what they had done to deserve this, especially Laelapmon... was Arch Angel so bad that her partner had to suffer from this cruel and brutal treatment? She didn't understand it at all... and her feelings of hopelessness made her cry harder.

"LAELAPMON! Please... oh god, please just stop this, you're going to kill her!" Amy shrieked, her eyes blurry from tears, unable to hold back on sobbing.

"That's the plan, eh? You humans are so slow to catch on, you know, princess." one of the Goblimon's taunted.

The cloth preventing Laelapmon from speaking had come lose, and she was able to weakly spit it out, gasping for breath. She looked so tired, and worn down, from being battered about. But there was a fire in her eyes, as she felt anger beginning to boil up inside of her.

"You made my partner cry..." Laelapmon murmured weakly, shifting slightly, as she struggled to get free. "I won't forgive anyone that... puts tears... in Amy's eyes..."

light and heat began to burn off of Laelapmon's body, illuminating up as bright as the sunlight beaming down on them from above.

The Goblimon began to panic, trying to grab and restrain her, but the light burned their hands to the touch.

The light around Laelapmon increased in size and changed shape, until a much bigger canine-like figure stood, towering over the entire Goblimon gang.

Amy couldn't make out any details on the glowing figure, but it reminded her, of when Manimon had taken on his own transformation...

The glowing figure raised it's head and howled out loud and clear, as cyan and lime green flames burst from around it, striking each of the Goblimon in the group one after the other.

"_FAERIE FLAME!_"

Each of the Goblimon screamed in agony as the flames engulfed and burned them all apart until each exploded apart into glowing data, which the larger glowing figure absorbed. Gracefully approaching Amy, 'Laelapmon' bowed her head, gently biting the ropes that bound her tamer, which disintegrated at the big dog's touch.

The light began to lift from the figure, and slowly fade into particles, fading into nothing, leaving Laelapmon's usual small self behind... before the little dog collapsed from exhaustion, too weak to stand any longer.

Amy rushed over, cradling Laelapmon's head in her lap, tears spilling from her eyes once more.

She felt responsible for all of this, her partner's pain and suffering at the hands of the Goblimon gang.

"I'm so sorry... I shouldn't have left you on your own..." she murmured down quietly, stroking Laelapmon's face gently.

"Something happened... at the apartment, and I went out with Manimon... and then... when I got separated from him, I remembered how worried I was about you this morning, because you seemed so sad... and I tried looking for you..." Laelapmon replied weakly, closing her eyes tiredly.

"I don't like seeing you cry..."

* * *

><p>Manimon was laying on his back, still clinging to the Oculusmon. They'd crashed down on the roof of a building near to where Cadmemon had been, and the flying camera digimon had been thrashing and wriggling about, trying to free itself from his grip. It's long segmented paddle-like wings beat recklessly against the roof below them, and it began to painfully drag Manimon over towards the edge of the building, desperately trying to escape.<p>

Manimon managed to twist his body about, flinging the wretched thing over his shoulder, where it landed with a crunch on it's back, writhing about psychotically.

"Damn it, you've caused us enough trouble, I'm finishing you off!" Manimon growled, stamping his foot down on Oculusmon's eye, causing the glassy casing to crack under the power of the kick.

The large pupil seemed to shrink, as the rest of it's eye began to glow intensely, before it fired a charged beam into Manimon's face. As Manimon went soaring through the air, everything seemed to go into slow motion.

He could just see Oculusmon righting itself and spreading it's wings as Manimon vanished off the side of the building.

"This is it... I'm done for..." Manimon whispered, closing his eyes.

But something caught his foot. Opening his eyes, he sharply turned and stared at the human hands gripping hold of one of his feet, and then his gaze travelled up the stranger's arms, and he seemed to just notice the human that had saved his life, as the realization that he was still alright sunk in.

"Don't worry there, hun. We've got this covered." said the girl, who had black hair with sugary-pink highlights, with mismatched stripy stockings, and a mischievous look about her, or so Manimon thought.

"Isn't that right, Cheromon, honey?" the girl called, after pulling Manimon in onto the fire escape with her safely.

"Kuu-ii!" came a squeaky little voice above them.

"Boy you're heavy, you nearly clean pulled me off the fire escape with you!" the girl laughed, setting Manimon down on the fire escape balcony, leaning on the railings a little.

"Who are you guys?" Manimon spluttered as he caught his breath, before the pair took off up the stairway, towards the sounds of action coming on the roof

"I'm Neon, and my partner Cheromon up here is going to deal with your little problem for you, so don't worry any more, hun." Neon grinned, as they got onto the roof. "Arch Angel isn't going to find out about you."

"Crackle Bug!" squeaked the little white and yellow-coloured gremlin digimon before them, it's long claws sparking with electricity, as it jammed it's claws onto Oculusmon's face. The camera Digimon's body spazzed out, twitching and spasming, before it stopped moving, paralysed.

"Digi-Transfer!" Neon called out, holding out her gold-coloured D-Drive, as chains made of light seemed to burst from the screen, wrapping around Oculusmon, cocooning it's body in light, before shrinking it down and sucking it inside of the device.

"How on earth?" Manimon shrieked on watching this occur, "that's not something legit!"

"It's a hacked D-Drive with modded software." Cadmemon's voice said, causing Manimon to whip himself around to stare at her expectantly for further information. "But that's a secret only _members _have access to."

"Hold on, do you lot know each-other?" Manimon asked, giving a suspicious look at all three of them.

"Yes, you could say, we're on a patrol." Neon replied in a casual off-hand way. "Just keeping the streets clean, as it were."

"Keeping the streets clean?" Manimon asked incredulously, feeling as though he and Joey's secret crime fighting idea had been 'stolen' from them.

"We fight off infected digimon, wipe records of digimon sightings off of Oculusmon when we can, rescue lost digimon that transferred through that came in peace, and return them home safe... that sort of thing." Neon explained, sitting on the edge of the building, swinging her feet off the side. "We've been doing this for a few years, now."

"A few years! I thought me and my tamer had all this under control?" Manimon spat, looking slightly furious that this 'digimon problem' had occurred for longer and more deeper than he had perhaps realized.

"Evidently not, bunny-boy. This problem goes deeper than you realize; the Digital World is killing itself, and you could say refugees are pouring out all the time. There could be a pocket of digimon pouring in as we speak, somewhere in Japan." Cadmemon sighed, sitting next to Neon.

Neon's D-Drive received a message tone, which she opened up and read through.

"Ah. It's time we went underground, guys. Cadmemon, your beloved tamer finished his patrol and wants us to head to the Rendezvous Point." Neon informed Cadmemon, in an otherwise mysterious sounding voice.

"You're leaving already? I still have questions!" Manimon called out, looking frantic. "You guys know way too much about this sort of thing, and I want to know what's going on!"

Neon got up and turned to face Manimon, heading over and leaning in-front of him.

"You're so adorable, sweetie. But there's stuff you're just not supposed to know. Just... take a vacation, spend time with your tamer and have fun, leave the 'digimon crime-fighting' to us, trust me, there's like an army of us, against you and your tamer's little twosome." Neon sighed, stroking his ears.

Manimon just couldn't accept this, however, and tried not to feel bitter about this. This was 'his and Joey's thing' together... and on top of this, it was important to Joey's research, and for Joey to realize his ambition, the sole reason he'd come to Japan in the first place, for what Joey wanted to do, Manimon had to become stronger. A LOT stronger. And this was the only way, to fight off digimon, and try to find answers to questions nobody except these people seemed to know.

Manimon sighed, and shook himself out of his thoughts, only to find that the other three had gone off.

"This isn't the last time we meet! I swear to the Sovereigns, next time, you're going to answer everything I have to ask!" he yelled out, even though he knew he would get no response.

Looking up at the darkening sky, he realized he had to get a move on and get back home, Joey would be leaving the office soon... on top of this, he suddenly remembered something he'd forgotten.

"ARGH! I have to find Laelapmon!" he shrieked, as he tore down the stairs as fast as he could.

* * *

><p>Amy kept looking down at her D-Drive as she walked, heading for home. She'd stored Laelapmon inside, and kept checking at her health, which was slowly restoring over time.<p>

She was in two minds on what she should do... she didn't want Laelapmon to keep fighting, because she hated seeing her get hurt, but at the same time, she was powerless to defend herself against 'wild' digimon, who could easily kill her, if they wanted.

Checking the tracker, she could finally see Manimon's icon coming into view, and decided she'd better get to him, before he got himself into trouble, too. Too many things had happened to her today, involving the ones she loved, for her to want any more people hurt.

After some time following his symbol, especially where at one point she'd noticed he'd turned about on himself and gone in a circle, she finally caught sight of him walking about an empty plaza.

"Hey, Manimon!" Amy called, running over to get to him.

"Amy... I'm really worn out, today's just been a really long day..." Manimon sighed, sitting down on the edge of a fountain he'd been taking a drink from.

"Tell me about it..." Amy replied, in a small voice. She checked Laelapmon's status for the umpteenth time, worriedly. Manimon peered over her arm at the screen, and bit his lip.

"Oh god... she looks in a bad way... what happened?" he asked, feeling immense guilt for not having had the time to stop and come back for her, due to the urgency of stopping Oculusmon.

"There were a group of goblin-Digimon... they had her tied up... I'd just gotten out of the hospital, when I noticed her icon on the D-Drive's tracker, and I knew something was wrong... she got beaten badly..." Amy sighed, gnawing on her finger tips, looking upset. "They really had it in for her, because she was a Digimon 'born of Arch Angel'... I don't understand, she didn't do anything wrong..."

"Arch Angel, again..." Manimon murmured, staring down at his reflection in the fountain water. "She was really worried about you, so I sat with her on the balcony. That's when we saw this black fox digimon, Cadmemon. We'd chased her, and helped her destroy an infected Apemon, but when I brought up Arch Angel, she got really aggressive towards me..."

"I can't believe all this happened, so soon after Centimon..." Amy sighed. She hoped this wouldn't become a recurring or daily event for them all... she wasn't sure if she and Laelapmon could keep up attacks on a regular basis. "I don't get what it is that Arch Angel is supposed to have done in all of this, but I don't think you or Laelapmon deserve any of this trouble..."

"Amy... whatever it is that's going on, me and Joey will find out about it. Joey is... actually doing research on Arch Angel, himself... I know that there's been shady dealings going on there, but for them to have an 'army' against them, something bad must have happened..." Manimon replied uncomfortably. "That Cadmemon, she and this girl I met, Neon, must be in some kind of group... they kept talking about things like an army, some crisis in the Digital World, saving the digimon... I don't know what it means."

"The Goblimon that attacked us said the same thing, too..." Amy sighed, slipping her D-Drive back into her pocket. "It's been such a long day... let's go home, Manimon."

"Amy... will you help me explain it all to Joey? I know he'll be really angry... I don't want to face him alone..." Manimon sighed, getting up. "It's funny, but it's the same with Laelapmon, too... I think, more than enemy Digimon, the thing we're most scared of is disappointing our tamers."

Amy stood up, and straightened herself up. She thought on what Manimon had said... and found she'd just never be able to hate or feel disappointed in Laelapmon, and that Joey must feel the same, even if he did get angry.

She decided that, tomorrow, she'd spend some quality time with Laelapmon, and tell her everything, so that Laelapmon wouldn't be left in the dark about things.

"Don't worry. I'll talk to him." Amy said, managing a small smile down at Manimon as they started walking in the direction towards home.

Both of them walked the rest of the way home in silence after that, lost in deep thought on the events of the day.

* * *

><p>Somewhere underground, down a flight of winding stairs twisting down, deeper and darker under the streets of Neo Tokyo, a meeting was under way.<p>

"We captured a Scoutmon over near the tram lines out near the southern bridge," a guy named Seth stated. He had black hair, and wore a black hoodie with an emblem stitched on the sleeve, the symbol of their group. "if everything goes according to plan, we'll be needing to organize a large meet-up with the other gangs, and ready ourselves for phase 2."

"Cadmemon eradicated the infected Apemon, and we managed to capture an Oculusmon." Neon said, holding out her D-Drive to the people before her. "It has some interesting footage on it that I think you'll enjoy, Seth."

"Oh?" Seth asked, kneeling down to pet and stroke his partner, Cadmemon.

"I saw two new digimon on the block. I don't know who their tamers are, but apparently, they killed Centimon." Cadmemon said, nuzzling in against Seth, affectionately. "Laelapmon and Manimon, a dog and rabbit. Manimon brought up Arch Angel a few times..."

"I see." her tamer murmured, before standing back up. "Neon, Cadmemon, Cheromon... I have a new assignment for you. I want you to keep track of them. It'll be no problem for me to find out who the tamers are, and stats on the digimon."

"Got it, Seth." Neon replied, hugging Cheromon against her chest. Her small child-minded partner stared up at her, smiling joyfully, and reaching his arms up to cling to her shoulders. "I'll find out everything you need about them."

"I first found them over near the Evergreen apartments, I'm going to start off there tomorrow." Cadmemon exclaimed, rubbing her head against Seth's leg adoringly.

"Alright. In the mean time, I'm going to extract all the footage off of Oculusmon, and then I'm going to run a search on Arch Angel's database... find out exactly who these people are and what their digimon are capable of."

And with that, the group descended down the stairs into the pitch darkness leading to Neo Tokyo's underworld.


	4. March of the Infected

Episode 4. - March of the Infected

* * *

><p>The day after the incidents with members of the Resistance, and the Goblimon gang, Amy and Joey had set aside an evening to talk together.<p>

"I'm still bothered by all this." Joey sighed, pouring himself and Amy a cup of tea. "About the Resistance..."

"Do you know anything about them?" Amy asked, stroking Laelapmon's ears. The little dog digimon was laying across her lap prodding at a cuddly toy Amy had given to her to play with.

"I don't know much. I had no idea that they do patrols, and that they're taking Oculusmon from off the streets, either. I'm in a low-tier position, so they don't tell us much. Everything I've heard has been from rumours." Joey sat down beside Amy, and passed her one of the cups.

"Thanks." Amy sighed, taking a sip. "So what are the supposed rumours?"

"They've got hackers on board, and supposedly have tried hacking into Arch Angel servers. They haven't successfully breached, but some of the higher-ups have been both edgy over this, and come under fire from the boss of arch angel himself, Hal Becker. He's not been happy at all, as you can imagine. He's running one of the biggest technology companies of Japan, and distributes products all over the world, and they're getting under attack from script-kiddies. Some of the system operators got fired; whatever it is the Resistance want to see, they're trying repeatedly to snoop around high-security stuff." Joey paused a little, taking a deep drink of his tea.

"What could Arch Angel be doing that warrants so much hatred from the Resistance and wild Digimon?" Amy asked, looking down sadly at Laelapmon. She wasn't going to forget the attack any time soon, and thinking about it made her stomach turn.

"I don't know. I've... been trying to find out myself, actually..." Joey started, turning his cup around in his hands slowly. "I've tried digging around, but I have to be so careful... the higher-ups are always keeping a beady eye on the rest of us... even the agents, too."

"Arch Angel has _agents_?" Amy inquired, giving Joey a worried look. "Why do they need agents?"

"I'm not sure. All I know is that they're men in suits with big guns and strong Digimon. They're all stationed about like security guards." Joey sighed. "They keep everyone in the 'right' places. I don't know how far their access into Arch Angel goes, but..."

"I hate the agents!" Manimon started, standing at the doorway. Joey had grounded him to stay in the other room as punishment for leaving the apartment and getting into big trouble and almost getting them all caught, but the little rabbit couldn't be kept grounded for long, it seemed. "They're so full of themselves, and hoity-toity gunslingers with oh-so special superstar Digimon! They're all so full of it!"

"Manimon, you're grounded, you're not a part of the conversation." Joey sighed, though he already knew he was going to lose this.

"Tough luck, Joe, I made myself a part of it now." Manimon grinned, waltzing out of the bedroom to climb up onto the table and steal an apple from the fruit basket.

"You sound jealous." Laelapmon called to Manimon, as she rolled onto her back. Amy stroked her tummy, and Laelapmon giggled a bit. "That tickles!"

"I am NOT jealous!" Manimon growled, half tempted to throw the remains of the apple core at Laelapmon, before Joey grabbed it from him and threw it into the bin. "What Digimon in their right mind wants to be some super-strong combat-master... who gets all the girls... and..."

Laelapmon poked her tongue out at Manimon's increasingly reddening face.

"Mister Manimon, you're a terrible liar, and a green eyed monster..." Laelapmon stated, licking Amy's fingers affectionately, her tail wagging.

"Alright you two, that's enough of that. Laelapmon, you'll upset him!" Amy said, but couldn't refrain from smiling. Laelapmon had recovered and was coming more out of her shell, which made her feel a lot better.

"Actually... I wonder..." Joey sighed, rubbing his chin slightly.

"Hm?" Amy murmured, looking over at Joey. He was pacing about back and forth in his open-plan kitchen, in deep thought.

"Nothing... it's not important." Joey replied, vaguely. "Oh, Manimon wanted me to get tickets a while back to see that one idol singer, Marina. Would you like to go with us? J-Pop isn't really my thing... but Manimon really loves it. You could use a fun night out, and Laelapmon too."

"I don't know..." Amy replied. She didn't want to impose on him and Manimon.

"Well, it's not for another few days yet, so you've got time to think on it. No pressure, though. But you and Laelapmon could use some time off from the stress of recent events." Joey said gently.

"Would you like to go, Laelapmon?" Amy asked her partner, ruffling her ears a little.

"I don't know what an idol or J-pop is, but it sounds like fun. If Manimon likes it, then it must be really madcap." Laelapmon commented, looking over at Manimon.

"Madcap? It's energy, high energy, cuteness, bounciness!" Manimon began... before degenerating into fan-boy babbling, getting very hot and flustered, as he hugged one of the sofa cushions tightly to his chest. "Cute, cuddly girls... soft girls... ehehehe... pretty, frilly dresses... I collect all the merchandise, you know... I'm in Marina's fan club... ehehehe..."

Laelapmon whimpered slightly, as she watched Manimon roll back and forth on his back across the sofa opposite them, until he fell clean off onto the floor.

"I think Manimon is broken!" she squeaked, whimpering softly.

"No, he's just completely obsessed with Marina. Her music, and her appearance. He's really into all that crazy idol stuff." Joey sighed, rolling his eyes behind his glasses.

Meanwhile, just outside on the balcony, the tamers and their digimon were completely unaware of a microphone on a long lead slowly getting pulled back up onto the roof.

* * *

><p>"Oh boy! Did you hear all of that, Cadmemon?"<p>

Cadmemon was sitting beside Clefmon, a small bird digimon wearing headphones, and a snazzy belt, and pink and white plumage. The two had been sitting on the cold roof all evening, with Cadmemon grumbling occasionally about the chilly air and increasingly darkening skies.

"I heard the important stuff about Arch Angel. Did _you_?" Cadmemon asked her companion, prodding Clefmon's chest with her paw.

"They're going to see Marina! Oh, oh, ohhh, I'm so jealousss~!" Clefmon squealed, clasping her claws together, "We're following too, aren't we? Aren't we? Please say yes!"

"Ugh! Clefmon, this is NOT what Seth sent us here for! We need to find out what kind of people these tamers are, what side they're on... that Joey sounds like he might not be as straight-edge as we thought..." Cadmemon stated, scratching her ear a little.

"Well, I don't know either, but anyone that likes Marina can't be a bad guy!" Clefmon giggled, swinging her legs where she as seated on the edge of the roof.

"And Laelapmon and Amy seem like they're still neutral... so in short this requires more investigations..." Cadmemon said, thinking out loud to herself, mostly, but Clefmon quickly gripped onto this and went with it.

"So that means we've gotta follow them to the concert!" Clefmon asked, getting more and more pumped up, as she gripped hold of the fox Digimon's shoulders. "Right?"

"W-Why not continue investigating when they're at home? Why does it have to be the concert?" Cadmemon replied, leaning as far back from Clefmon as she could, before the bird digimon pressed her beak against Cadmemon's nose.

"Let's see how they are in a social situation! Seeing how they act in a public place around strangers might give us a better insight!" Clefmon squeaked insistently, before rubbing her beak and Cadmemon's nose together almost in an Eskimo kiss. "And we want a better insight, don't we? To assess if they're a threat to the Resistance, or potential allies!"

"...You scare all the data out of me, sometimes, Clefmon..." Cadmemon sighed, looking drained of energy all of a sudden, something which occurred frequently with the energetic bounciness that Clefmon so readily displayed.

"So, I just have to find out the time and date that they're going, and we're all set~!" Clefmon giggled, rubbing her claws together excitedly. She lowered one of her three microphones down below onto the balcony, and then pinched the wire, altering her voice to imitate Laelapmon's voice perfectly.

"So, Mister Joey, when is the concert, and what time are we all going~?" Clefmon asked, in Laelapmon's voice, which the mic mysteriously threw out, unable to hold back most of her excitement.

Laelapmon jumped up in surprise on hearing her own voice talking, when she hadn't said a word, though nobody else in the room noticed.

"Oh? It's going to be this Friday coming, at 7:45pm. You seem a little excited, Laelapmon!" Joey commented with a little laugh, not understanding why Laelapmon seemed a little jumpy.

"Huh?" Laelapmon whimpered, staring all about herself distrustfully, before going towards the balcony. Just as she peered out, she was too late however to see the microphone disappearing up the side of the building.

"Aww... she's suddenly so restless... she really can't wait to go. Then, I guess it's settled. We'll come with you, then." Amy decided, smiling warmly.

Manimon went whooping and hollering around the entire apartment in his own fan-boyish excitement, whilst all poor Laelapmon could do was sit, head tilted, in confusion.

* * *

><p>The skies continued to grow darker, as time continued to endlessly tick away. People coming through the park over the course of the day were now dwindling down to little to any visitors at all.<p>

Eventually, someone came by and locked the gates leading into the park, and went on their way.

This didn't stop Barghestmon from entering, though. He slipped through between shadows to get onto the other side of the high fencing, and was now free to inspect the park uninterrupted by human passer-bys.

He studied what he could see, his bright red eyes giving him superb night vision, as he scanned every bush, bench, pathway and fountain for what he was keeping an eye open for. And it wouldn't take him long to find it.

He could feel it. The feel of data... it sent chills through his spine, as though it were calling him forward. The presence of a Digital Gateway was faint, but there. He'd felt it as he'd been passing by, and he had to be sure.

Skulking through bushes towards a large locked up tool-shed the park keeper likely kept all of his tools in, Barghestmon could see it; the growing, newly formed portal of light that linked places between the Real World and the Digital World. At the moment, it was no bigger than a cat flap, but there was no doubt that it would get bigger over the coming days.

He would need to set up base, and keep watch over it... the only way to deal with Gateways was to play the touch-and-go waiting game.

* * *

><p>The days rolled past relatively quickly. Joey had gone on as he always had, getting his work schedule done, and Amy had been doing her assignment, which was related to spending time in Japan, and that was to write about her experiences, any culture shock she felt, the culture in general, and all the sights she'd seen.<p>

Each night was spent mostly with their digimon, and each-other. They'd watched movies together, chatted together a little, and just generally taken it easy after the all the fights they'd been in, and considering that more battles would likely follow, wanted to spend the time they could relax and lead ordinary stress-free lives as best they could.

And before they knew it, Friday was on them.

"Tonight's the night!" Manimon shrieked, sliding across the kitchen floor on his knees. "I'll get to see Marina, live, in person!"

"Calm down, calm down. It's only a concert." Joey sighed, as he washed up the plates from dinner.

"Only a concert?" Manimon yelled, bouncing from one foot to the other, shaking his fist.

"Oh no..." Joey muttered, pausing to cover his ears.

"It's the special concert with her newest single and I get to see Marina Takahashi in person, and with the backstage pass from the fan club I'll get her autograph a-and a photo, a-and...!" Manimon erupted, soon going off on a tangent, his eyes sparkling and face changing 50 different shades of red, from frustration at Joey's supposed 'ignorance', and his own excitement.

"...and now, if you're done trying to destroy my hearing..." Joey sighed, after Manimon calmed down. "anyway, there's one problem with that, and that it's Amy getting the photograph, and the autograph. You and Laelapmon will be going in your D-Drives, remember?"

"Sovereigns be damned!" Manimon sighed, his eyes watering up a little. "Damn it... I hope Amy is grateful to be meeting my idol!"

"Don't talk like that, Manimon, or I won't let you go. Show some respect for once, eh?" Joey said, his tone turning very stern and serious, which made Manimon jump slightly.

"S-Sorry... I just get a little..." Manimon breathed out, "_obsessive_..."

"Oh, I already knew that..." Joey sighed. He grabbed some paracetamol and a bottle of water, since he could sense this evening would likely give him a headache.

Amy knocked on the door, and when Joey answered, Manimon let out a sharp whistle.

"You look good, Amy!" Manimon commented, his paws on his hips.

"Your hair looks nice down." Joey commented, himself. "So, you and Laelapmon are ready?"

"As ready as we'll ever be." Amy replied. She'd let her hair down, and was wearing a blue top with sequin butterflies stitched on the front, and dark blue jeans with black boots with heels, making her look a little taller than she usually did. "You ready, Joey?"

Joey nodded, "just getting my coat." He'd decided on wearing otherwise smart-looking clothing which he normally saved for special occasions, but Manimon had spilled ketchup on the ironing rack and ruined his favourite clothing. "I feel awkward, going out in this..."

"It looks really smart, though." Amy commented, as she straightened up her bag. "All that's left is to set up the D-Drives and get going."

Manimon and Laelapmon were stored in their respective D-Drives and put away in Amy's bag, as everyone headed out.

On Joey's balcony, a certain microphone was getting hastily pulled back up onto the roof once again.

* * *

><p>Joey and Amy boarded the train, and grabbed seats, unaware of the two digimon spies tracking them. Clefmon was holding onto Cadmemon's tails, with Cadmemon using her shadow-walker ability, and both were practically seated behind the tamers.<p>

"So Joey?" Manimon spoke up from his D-Drive, which Joey was now holding. "You and Amy never told me how you both met?"

"Oh god, there's so much stuff we never got around to talking about with them, due to everything, and what with my assignments, I completely forgot..." Amy started.

Though, that being said, she'd made a start on telling Laelapmon things, like the truth about being in Japan... about Hiro. It had been hard to talk about, but she'd made the resolve to do so, and Laelapmon had been so supportive... but this was only a little piece of Amy's life that Laelapmon now knew, and on looking down at her partner in the D-Drive, she could see she was eager to know more.

"Do you two have a... you know..." Manimon grinned, "_history_?"

Amy's cheeks reddened slightly, as she shook her head. "Oh goodness, no! Not at all, a-at least, not in the way I think you're implying..."

"I studied World History under Amy's dad, particularly, I was trying to learn more about the world before the world was almost destroyed, and the mythology surrounding what nearly wiped out humanity." Joey explained, giving Amy a little smile, covering for her during her moment of being caught off-guard by Manimon.

"My dad teaches at a college back in England, where we both came from. Joey would come around after the courses were done, and he'd hang out with my dad and ask questions or get help. My dad loved having him over." Amy grinned, wringing the hem of her coat a little. "Me and Joey met that way. On times my dad was out, Joey would help me with my own homework, or we'd just play games for a bit."

"You're studying to be a journalist aren't you, Amy?" Laelapmon spoke up, peering up inquisitively. "From what I've seen on your assignments at least..."

"Yes... I'd love to travel the world, and write about it. Like Joey, I want to find out about the disaster , when it happened, and why. A lot of us are hoping to find answers... the world is changing." Amy explained at the digimon inside the D-Drives.

"Yes... actually, in regards to that, my grandfather took up work here in Japan under Arch Angel. It was pretty major, he oversaw some high-security stuff..." Joey began.

Cadmemon was now on the edge of her seat, listening intently, her ears trained on Joey to catch every word he was saying.

"One day, though, they just phoned me and told me he went missing." Joey continued, his expression a solemn one. "Gone, just like that. He'd not turned up to work in weeks, someone went around to his house... no signs of him having been there at all..."

"So this is why you came to Japan and got a job at Arch Angel...?" Amy asked, biting her lip a little.

"Yes... I wanted answers. I've searched the employee database... and he's not on it, been completely wiped. I know the higher-ups in the company outside of Becker have the identities kept secret, but this... it didn't feel right." Joey stated, turning to look at them. "And this brings me back, yet again, to why I wanted you to have a partner as soon as you got in Japan, Amy."

Amy was positive she knew what he would say next.

"Ever since Digimon began showing up in the real world, people have started going missing..."

Amy felt slightly sick again, biting her lip a little harder.

"Of course..." Joey continued, "there is no proof at all that Digimon are responsible for people vanishing. People vanish all the time, across the globe... sometimes they're found, and sometimes they're not... and I know, I know it seems really 'out there', but nobody had motive to just take my granddad. He lived in a modest little house, to strangers, he'd just look like your typical old man, going on his business... he lived quietly, and kept to himself. That's why I think something happened, something involving Digimon, because the people I've asked act like he was never working at Arch Angel, when he was... even the police don't know what's going on."

There was a short and awkward silence between everyone, even for Clefmon, whose eyes had watered up a bit and was burying her beak into a tissue. Cadmemon's ears were pinned back, feeling a little guilty for her treatment of Manimon previously, now that she knew the truth.

"That's so horrible, Joey... I'm sorry..."Amy murmured, after a short pause. She felt bad now, the thoughts of the concert forgotten.

"No, I'm sorry... this was supposed to be a fun night out for us, and I spoiled it..." Joey sighed, rubbing his forehead slightly.

"We're not there yet, so there's still time to turn things around and have a good time." Manimon called up to them, "Joey... I promised I'd help you find answers, and we will, one day, you'll find the truth."

"I'll help in any way I can, Joey..." Amy said, trying to give him a reassuring smile. "We'll get answers... we'll find out what happened."

"Thanks." Joey said, managing a little smile. "Alright... tonight, let's not dwell on the things that are worrying us. Let's try to have fun." He watched Amy carefully, as he said it.

"Mm-hmm." Amy nodded, as the train came to a stop. "Oh, this is our stop... I bet Manimon can barely contain himself!"

Amy had guessed correct; Joey had managed to press the mute button just in time before Manimon's fan-boy squealing could be broadcast to the entire carriage.

And with that, everyone, including their two spies, got off the train.

* * *

><p>Cadmemon and Clefmon ended up breaking off from following the tamers, heading off to the car park around the back of the concert hall.<p>

"Jeez... so this is why he's working for Arch Angel...?" Cadmemon commented, still looking a little down. Clefmon had cheered up immensely on reaching the concert hall, and was chirpily humming one of Marina's songs as they stalked past people, unseen in the shadows.

"Stop brooding!" Clefmon chirped, patting Cadmemon's back.

"I can't help it, Clefmon... to think, Arch Angel would cause pain even for it's own employees..." Cadmemon sighed gloomily, before Clefmon pulled her back and squeezed her tight.

"'The world is changing', that's what that girl Amy said, right? Let's change it again, for the better! For the humans and the Digimon~!" Clefmon chirped, rubbing her beak against Cadmemon's cheek. "Oooh, I might have to write a song about that, actually!"

"Changing the world isn't easy... changing people's perceptions is even harder." Cadmemon sighed, slumping down into sitting position, after Clefmon released her from her hold.

"Stop being such a pessimist, foxy lady~! Anyway, we've got to meet Neon around the back here, so keep a look out!" Clefmon pulled Cadmemon back up, and they continued on ahead, with Clefmon humming away pleasantly.

Eventually, around behind a thick green hedge, they found Neon waiting for them.

"So, how did you two get on with your little spy mission?" Neon grinned, stroking their faces gently as they came up. "Hey, Cadmemon, you look a little down. Everything OK?"

"...Y-Yeah." Cadmemon murmured shakily. "I'm just a little tired, that's all."

"We found out lots and lots of stuff about Amy and Joey!" Clefmon squeaked, spinning around on one foot, before clasping her claws together. "I don't think there's anything to worry about, really! I'll write up a report when I get home."

"So, do you have business here, or something?" Cadmemon asked, noticing Neon looking over the car park to the concert hall.

"Not really, I figured since Clefmon and you were getting a train coming by this way, I'd meet you here... actually, Seth let me print off a bootleg ticket, as a little reward for you guys hard work. I'll grab you Marina's autograph, Clefmon. Seth's got a reward for you back at the base, Cadmemon." she grinned, ruffling Cadmemon's ears, whilst Clefmon danced about ecstatically behind them.

"Yaaaay! I'm going to get my idol's autograph!" Clefmon squealed, skipping in a circle around Cadmemon, who simply sighed.

"I just can't wait to get out of this place and get back to Seth... _he'll_ make me feel better I'm _sure_." Cadmemon sighed, rolling her eyes at Clefmon's antics.

Neon wasted no more time in heading off, blending into the crowd. Marina's fans were all dressed in brightly coloured clothing, and Neon shuddered a little at seeing fully grown men standing around carrying cameras, hurriedly trying to cram inside the hall in a bid to see their idol.

But there was something else of importance she had to see to inside, and it wasn't Marina.

* * *

><p>"You're not coming in with us?" Amy called over the loud chattering of the crowds surrounding them.<p>

"No, J-Pop isn't really my thing. I'm going to the bar... I'll see you when you come out." Joey yelled, as he handed her Manimon's D-Drive. "Remember to keep him on mute!"

Amy giggled slightly as she went through into the stage area to get to her seat by the front. She was positive if she unmuted him now, his fan-boy screaming would easily drown out the crowds and be heard from outer-space. Sitting down, she sat Manimon and Laelapmon's D-Drives into her coat pockets so they could inconspicuously watch the stage without drawing too much attention to themselves.

When it was time to perform, the lights dimmed down, the crowds quietened down... only to break out in cheering from her fans when she came on stage- the idol, Marina Takahashi.

* * *

><p>Joey sat down at the bar, and ordered a drink, lost in thought. He'd wondered if he'd perhaps made the right decision, on the train of all places, to bring up about his grandfather... but Amy, and Laelapmon, deserved to know what it was he was doing there. He was positive if it had upset them, they'd be hopefully cheered up after the concert.<p>

"This seat taken?" came a female voice from behind him, and turning, he looked on the stranger that approached him.

She was a young woman, around 20 or so, with black hair with pink streaks, wearing mismatched striped stockings and black boots. He had no idea that this woman was the same one that had saved his partner.

"No, it's free." Joey said, watching as she sat next to him. "It was going to cost you to sit there, but I was feeling charitable and let you off." he grinned.

"Oh, you little tease, and here I was thinking you were going to let me sit here scot-free." Neon grinned back. "So, what's a fun guy like you doing at the bar, instead of having a great time in the staging area?"

"heh... J-Pop isn't really my thing." Joey replied, still watching her from the corner of one eye. He wasn't sure, but this girl was giving him a strange sort of feeling inside, but he couldn't place his finger on it.

"You seem like you'd enjoy rock music, but that's just me." Neon smiled, ordering herself a drink.

"Wow, you'd be right, there." Joey replied, tapping his fingers on the counter. He decided to put off thinking about his grandfather for the moment, it was a rare opportunity he got to socialize much due to otherwise always making himself too busy for it, let alone socializing with a girl around his age.

"Lucky guess~" she replied, in a musical sort of voice. "I love rock music, myself. So, aside from music, you got a name?"

"It's Joey. Joey Sawyer." he extended his hand out to shake hers, but noticed she hesitated slightly.

Neon's gaze was hidden behind her shades, but she'd recoiled slightly from surprise, though not enough for it to have been obvious.

"ah... well, I'm Kaede Yamamoto." Neon replied, shaking his hand. She'd used one of her numerous 'civilian identities' she used when above ground.

"So, you like rock music then?" Joey asked, turning back to the discussion of music, as the bar-tender brought them their drinks.

"Yeah, love it. I used to be in a band." She commented, sipping some of her drink.

"I used to have a friend in a band, too... I've not kept in contact with her, lately..." Joey sighed. He was half-way through his drink, which he'd ordered gin and tonic, and wondering if perhaps he should've bought something a tad stronger.

"A Lady-friend, hm?" Neon asked, resting her chin on the back of her hand, running her finger around the rim of her glass.

"Yeah, but we're not together, or anything. She's just a close friend is all." Joey murmured, thinking about the girl he'd left behind in the search for the truth of his grandfather's disappearance.

"I see. I'm not 'together' with anyone, either." Neon stated, "I'm trying my hand at getting back into music, though. You got a job?"

"Yeah, I'm doing an apprenticeship at Arch Angel for a year, if I do well, well, I'm hoping they'll keep me on." he finished off his drink, sliding his now empty glass across the counter towards the barkeeper.

"Any good working for them? I know they sell a lot of computer and technical goods. You must be really smart to get a job with them, right? I'm sure you'll get taken on full-time." she smiled, leaning against the bar casually.

"I hope so... kind of got a lot depending on it." Joey sighed. He didn't elaborate on it, but it meant everything to him, or so Neon felt, from his expression.

"Listen, it's getting a little crowded in here. Do you want to go some place quieter?" she asked, paying for her drink, before standing up. "There's a quiet little coffee shop just across from here, should be a lot quieter without all these fan-boys crowding around."

"Sure." Joey replied, and after paying for his own drink, he started off out with her. He had nothing better to do, and he was quite liking the company of this strange girl a lot. It looked like tonight might just offer him some relief after all.

* * *

><p>Barghestmon shifted slightly, where he was laid down in-front of the Gateway. He'd been resting for a while, having been keeping a watch on the Gateway for a few days now, nothing had come through, and though weary, he was exhausted from watching it the previous night, when he'd sworn there had been some activity through the other side.<p>

Not every gate that opened got bigger, and sometimes, even big portals didn't always toss through wild Digimon, but he never dared walk away from one.

He slipped his eyes closed for a moment, where he desperately wanted to sleep, but he felt duty-bound to keep watch... and thanked every god under the sun he had stayed awake.

Because suddenly, countless Gekomon were erupting from the portal of light before him.

Jumping to his feet, he roared out his attack, trying to drive them back through.

"MAUTHE PYRE!" he roared in a booming voice, black and red flames leaping from his mouth, a wall of fire bursting up in-front of himself and the portal, which outright slew the first swarm of Gekomon pouring through, but now, there were hundreds, with groups attacking back and clambering over his body.

The big dog's body soon became alight with flames, all the small shrieking frog-Digimon clinging to his body going up in flames and exploding into a shower or brightly coloured particles, which Barghestmon then absorbed into himself, loading their data.

And he then realized, in horror, that there were too many of the damn things pouring out of the Gateway for him to stop them on his own.

He ran ahead of the swarming Gekomon, which flooded and over-ran everything they came across, jumping the fencing around the park, which Barghestmon was unable to prevent. There came a loud crashing sound behind them, before their leader forced the Gateway wide open... and ShogunGekomon made himself known, crawling out of the portal, and lumbering after his subjects, crushing the fencing flat, all the whilst ignoring Barghestmon.

The black dog chased after the stampede, throwing out fire left and right, snapping and crushing Gekomon within reach with his powerful jaws, as he ran with them. Looking up, he realized what this mob were running for...

The concert hall in the distance, which was full of hundreds of vulnerable people. They were attracted to the sound!

* * *

><p>Amy was still buzzing from the energy. Marina had certainly blown her away with the energy, though Amy had perhaps thought the music had been a bit too bouncy for her liking, it had certainly cheered her up. She'd understood most of the lyrics, though some of the faster parts had been a little bit slurred and she hadn't caught on some of the lyrics, but she'd enjoyed it none-the-less.<p>

"Try not to get TOO excited, Manimon, but it's time for us to head backstage." Amy murmured down at Manimon, as she straightened herself down.

Manimon looked like a balloon about to pop, he was all puffed up and looking ready to just about explode from glee. Laelapmon was wagging her tail, looking very wide-eyed and alert.

"That was a lot of fun, Amy. I think I like J-Pop!" she called up.

"I'll have to let you listen to some of my CDs of the bands back in England, you'd like them too, Laelapmon." Amy commented, as she headed towards a squealing cluster of fans, some teenage girls around Marina's age, and, rather creepily, some older men, who by the look of them, didn't look like the girl's fathers.

"Jeez... I forgot that idols have a lot of creepy adult fans, too..." Amy thought aloud to herself quietly. Marina's songs had been typical 16 year old stuff really aimed towards that sort of crowd, up to mid-twenties, but these men looked much older. It made her nervous to be in the same sort of crowd as them.

"Alright, come on through." called out one of two bodyguards, who began ushering everyone through the side round the back towards the backstage area, where Marina would be signing their autographs, and having her photo taken with her adoring fans.

However, on getting there, the singer was nowhere to be found.

"...excuse me." said the second bodyguard, as he walked off just out of earshot, talking into a walkie-talkie.

"I reckon she's done it again, you know." one of the girls murmured to one of the others.

"She does this often, doesn't she? She did this at the last concert, didn't she? And one of the ones a while back. That's terrible of her! Doesn't she care we paid extra for the backstage passes, just to see her?" the second girl piped up.

"Aaaah, that's so cute..." one of the older male fans at the back commented, "Marina, so tsundere, she must have stormed of in an adorable rage of cuteness!"

"O-oh, or she might be timid and sweet and shy, too overwhelmed by us, her loyal fans, to be able to face our love for her!" commented the second older male fan.

"Amy?" Manimon whispered up, looking worried. "Where's Marina?"

"I don't know... I think she's bailed out on her fans..." Amy replied quietly, keeping her voice low. "She's apparently prone to running off on them, and she's vanished off again..."

"w-what?" Manimon swallowed, feeling as though his dreams were being shattered, "but we came all this way... I've been waiting for such a long time... I-I save all of the f-fanclub newsletters..."

"Please don't cry, Manimon..." Amy murmured, starting to break away from the group of fans more.

"Amy..." Laelapmon whispered up nervously, "I think you need to see this..."

Amy peered down at her own D-Drive, where Laelapmon brought up the tracker automatically, and Amy had to force herself not to cry out in horror.

Approaching the concert hall were countless dots, coming straight for them.

Without hesitating any longer, Amy ran out of the concert hall as fast as her feet could carry her, dialling up Joey's number on her mobile phone.

* * *

><p>Joey finished off his next cup of coffee, with him and Neon having sat back and relaxed with otherwise mood-setting music. He'd found himself subconsciously sitting a little closer and closer to her over time, and she'd been looking at him intently all evening.<p>

"This was nice." Neon said, smiling at him, with a look in her eyes that seemed to draw Joey in.

"I... I'm glad. This was a great evening." he commented, his heart beat quickening in his chest a little.

"Joey... maybe you'd like to, I don't know..." she began, resting her hand a little on top of his. "meet up for coffee again, some time...?"

He stared at her in disbelief, but didn't pull his hand away. Something about her was bringing something inside of him back to life, something he'd had to swallow down and forget about for a long time, and he just couldn't place his hand on it.

"...Yes. I'd like that, if that's alright with you." he asked, his voice becoming a little quieter, as he felt his cheeks slowly beginning to flush red.

Neon smiled. She thought his sudden shyness was cute. Reaching for a napkin, she wrote down her mobile number and slipped it to him.

"Call me whenever you feel like having company." she said softly, just as Joey's mobile went off, disturbing their moment, and causing both to sit up straight.

"I'm sorry, I have to take this call." he sighed, after checking the caller ID and seeing Amy's name flash up.

"It's fine, go ahead." Neon replied, leaning back in her seat, folding one leg over the other casually, all the whilst watching his expression as he answered the phone.

"This is bad... hundreds of digimon on the tracker... coming for the concert hall.." Amy called, breathlessly. "wh-where are you? I'm in the car park..."

"Stay where you are, I'm coming now." Joey put hung up, hurriedly getting to his feet. "I'm sorry, some thing's come up. I promise I'll phone you when I'm available... it was a pleasure meeting you, Kaede."

Neon watched Joey hurry out of the coffee shop, and not long after, got up and followed, opening her D-Drive up, and pressing onto Cadmemon and Clefmon's names.

"Cadmemon, Clefmon, are you two still in the local area? I might need some help."

* * *

><p>"I want you to find her, and bring her right back! What does she think she's doing, running out on an autograph session? Darren, I swear to god, if that girl doesn't start keeping her head in the game, I'll find another girl to replace her!" came the angry voice of Marina's manager down the phone, nearly blasting Darren's ears clean off.<p>

"Yes sir. I'm right on it. I'll bring her back as soon as I find her." Darren replied calmly, before putting the phone down.

"Let me guess... that was a certain manager of mine?" Marina sighed, as she and Darren started off, where they'd ran out of the concert hall together.

"Yes, angry as all hell that we did a runner again." Darren replied, looking over at her. He'd been Marina's personal body guard for a few years now, and both of them were prone to vanishing off at the drop of a hat from anything from meetings, to rehearsals, to, like tonight, being forced to ditch her fans.

"If this keeps up, I'll lose everything... they told me I only have one shot at this. But after picking up all those dots on the tracker..." Marina began, as she reached into her bag to produce a dark blue D-Drive, "I couldn't let you face that many Digimon on your own."

"I appreciate it. After all, the safety of everyone comes before ourselves, in these cases." Darren commented, getting out his own dark green D-Drive.

"That's right. Alright, the sooner we stop these guys, the sooner we can get back and face the music, I guess..." Marina sighed, wishing that her manager wasn't as short-tempered as he was.

"Denimon, Elfinmon, we're ready!" Darren yelled, as Gekomon started showing up around them.

"Yo, yo, yo! We're good to goooo!" Denimon cried, jumping over the top of a car, and coming sliding across on his slippery reptilian feet to land next to Marina. He was almost as big as her, herself, and was a blue dinosaur-like Digimon with a sail of sorts on the back of his head.

Elfinmon descended down from above, his wings beating as he high-fived Darren on touching down on the pavement. He was a furry green Digimon with long bat-like ears, big leathery wings, and a bushy tail.

"I went on ahead, Darren, and there's whole stacks and stacks of Gekomon coming right for us!" Elfinmon informed his partner, a mischievous look on his face.

"You could go crowd surfin' on them and it'd feel like a real wave!" Denimon grinned, nuzzling against Marina's leg.

"Gekomon is a champion level digimon though, right?" Marina murmured, looking down at her D-Drive at the oncoming swarm. "We're going to need to digivolve you both for this..."

"This'll be tough, it'll be our two champions versus all of them." Darren muttered, flexing his arms a little, "can we handle something like this?"

"We'll have to, for the sake of all the people still in the concert hall that could get hurt..." Marina replied, bracing herself. "They'll be in sight any time soon now..."

"Heeeey!" came Amy's voice from behind, causing the singer and her bodyguard to turn in surprise.

"Marina Takahashi, right? It's not safe out here," Joey started, breathlessly, "You need to get out of here!"

All four tamers seemed to pause and take in each other for the first time, properly, and notice the Digimon at each other's sides.

"I know it's dangerous out here." Marina said, after the shock had passed them all, "It's imperative we fight off the threat. Although I'm shocked at there being other humans with Digimon out here, can I ask for your co-operation?"

"Yes, there'll be plenty of time for explanations later, right now, we have to stop the swarm. You did say it was Gekomon, didn't you?" Joey asked, looking worriedly at the streets ahead of them, strange frog-like noises and raspy voices being heard ahead as the swarm was coming within earshot.

"They're the champion level... I hope your digimon are ready for this..." Darren yelled, as the sounds got louder.

Rushing forward, the tamers and their digimon partners raced to stop the Gekomon that were now tearing through the streets towards them.

"Digivolve!" Marina yelled, as everyone's D-Drives reacted and beamed out bursts of bright, white light.

"Manimon, digivolve to..."

Light wrapped around Manimon's small body, as the shape changed and grew bigger, drills forming over his hands, his ears flopping down and ending in the oversized exhausts, and his tail transforming into an electrically charged turbine.

"DVERGAMON!"

"Elfinmon, digivolve to..."

The otherwise small bat-earred digimon grew bulkier and bigger, gaining webbed fin-like ears in place of his former long bat-like ones, swirling brown markings appearing on his legs, and a thick flowing brown tail, before the light subsided, and his transformation was complete.

"ELVERMON!"

"Denimon, digivolve to..."

The blue dinosaur-like Digimon's body changed, becoming more human-like in body shape. Light-weight armour began to appear around him, with skin-tight dark navy blue water-resistant arm coverings, dark navy blue baggy jeans with watery patterns down the legs and a red breech cloth with a water-based insignia, and a helmet reminiscent of ancient ones, adorned with fin-like attachments, and fluffy red hair. The light subsided, and he held up his large guan dao pole-arm in readiness.

"MARINEMON!"

three strong-looking champions now stood where the rookies previously had, after their digivolutions had taken place, the shimmering light leaving their bodies.

But Laelapmon was still a rookie.

"W-What's wrong? Why didn't she digivolve?" Amy called, looking panic-stricken. Laelapmon was staring at the coming swarm like a deer caught in the headlights, her own digivolution having gotten so far before breaking apart, as though it had cancelled itself.

"I don't know, but we don't have any time! Amy, run for it!" Joey yelled, as the three champions began to initiate their attacks against the swarming Gekomon.

Amy grabbed hold of Laelapmon and tried to run, as the sounds of battle took place behind her. She couldn't believe this was happening again... Laelapmon's digivolution had been incomplete during the Goblimon attack, too, only appearing as a bright white silhouette-like form of what she would have supposedly become.

"Breaker Blade!" yelled Marinemon, who cleaved through multiple Gekomon with ease, carving a path onwards for her. "Don't stop, keep going!"

"T-Thanks..." Amy gasped, as she caught Dvergamon getting jumped by at least 10 of the croaking menaces, before his drills burst through a few of them.

"Quickly, this way!" Marina called, suddenly by her side. She started guiding Amy over towards an alleyway, where both girls proceeded to duck down as a mob of Gekomon dashed past.

"I feel useless... Laelapmon can't digivolve..." Amy explained, her voice trembling slightly with worry, where she couldn't figure out why her partner was having so much trouble. Cuddling Laelapmon to her chest, she began to edge back up the alleyway to give Marina more space.

"It's alright... we'll try to keep you covered..." Marina replied, trying to give Amy a reassuring smile, before quickly looking back around.

Elvermon was smashing through the rampant torrent of livid Gekomon like nothing could stop him, with Dvergamon and Marinemon continuing to cleave through their numbers and being met with little resistance.

Suddenly, the gigantic red ShogunGekomon burst through, knocking over some trees from nearby, as it came tearing straight through towards the concert hall- with Barghestmon attached, biting into it's shoulder.

"Barghestmon!" Amy cried, her heart feeling as though it would stop at any moment.

"Is that Digimon a friend of yours?" Marina asked her, staring up at the big black dog's attempt at fighting off the Ultimate level Digimon, "he looks like he needs help..."

Stepping out, Marina whistled, to get Marinemon and Elvermon's attention. Both Digimon responded to her and held off, as she yelled over the noise.

"Marinemon, Elvermon, help that big black dog with the big guy! He must be their leader, or something!" she yelled.

All of a sudden, ShogunGekomon stopped, as if only just realizing his position. His eyes were glazed over and distant, and his stare fixed onto Marina in a way that sent shivers down her and Amy's spines. Then, all of a sudden, in a loud bellowing voice, it blasted out a loud tune that caused all of the Gekomon to turn and stare back at Marina.

"Marina!" Darren yelled, from across the street, where he and Joey were taking cover behind some parked cars. "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" she yelled back, as she felt a sinking feeling beginning to take ahold of her.

"It's your voice..." Barghestmon barked, still gripping onto the side of ShogunGekomon's shoulder, his claws digging in as deep as they could go, though the bigger digimon did not seem to feel it, or visually be reacting to it, as it was still focused on Marina. "They heard all the noise from the concert hall... they heard all the energy being pumped out by the music and singing..."

"T-Then that means..." Marina gasped, as her face seemed to drain of all colour, the Shogun and his subjects suddenly making a mad dash towards the alleyway she and Amy were taking refuge in.

"Marina, run!" Darren yelled, as everyone seemed to rush into motion.

The idol singer ran out from the alleyway, running down the street as fast as her legs could carry her, ShogunGekomon tearing his way through his own shrieking followers to catch up with her. His shadow fell over her small form, as though the sky itself was darkening, his clammy webbed hands reaching for her body...

"Don't you DARE lay a hand on my Marina!" screeched Dvergamon, as his turbine tail blazed up with full power and sent him rocketing into the ultimate level's side, drills first.

ShogunGekomon was knocked down onto his side, which sent tremors up and down the overflowing road. Marinemon, Dvergamon and Barghestmon aimed all of their combined attacks into the the big frog, in a unified effort to destroy him completely.

"Mauthe Pyre!" Barghestmon barked, his flaming breath quickly engulfing all up one side of his big foe.

"Breaker Blade!" Marinemon yelled, deftly slicing away through the Shogun's thick fat.

"Mjolnir Megaton!" Dvergamon cried, piercing through the giant Digimon's sides with his twin drills.

All three digimon watched ShogunGekomon explode apart, showering them in red data bits, which all the champions absorbed a share of. Elvermon had been keeping Marina and Amy covered.

Laelapmon jumped out of Amy's arms, as the others quickly resumed finishing of the Gekomon, who seemed almost vaguely lost looking without their Shogun. She began to try using Gale Blades against them, but she seemed so disheartened, the blades did not properly form. Amy tried to stay close to her partner, but the Gekomon began to pile up around her, pushing her back.

Marina grabbed ahold of Amy's arm, as they took cover behind Elvermon.

"Stay behind me, I'll keep them off our backs!" the swampy beast digimon stated, lashing out at any Gekomon daring to get too close to them with vine-like whips.

* * *

><p>Neon had been watching in the bushes, with Cadmemon and Clefmon by her side. Her gaze was locked on Joey and Dvergamon, who were getting completely boxed in by the oncoming mass of Gekomon.<p>

"...I can't get involved in this... but it would mean the world to me, if you helped that man and his partner out." Neon said quietly, fiddling with the sleeve of her jacket.

"You know Manimon's tamer?" Cadmemon asked, looking up at the brightly-coloured girl's face in curiosity.

"It's just... personal, to me. Please help him, you two..." Neon sighed, holding Cadmemon's paw and Clefmon's wing. "I feel terrible, but I don't want him to know I'm a tamer... not just yet."

Cadmemon was curious and intrigued to learn more about Neon's supposed connection with Joey, but was jolted out of her thoughts as Clefmon suddenly tugged her out through the bush.

"Leave it to us, Neon! We'll save them!" the pink bird digimon called out cheerfully, before launching her attack at the Gekomon.

"Prismatic Feathers!" she sang, which caught the Gekomon's attention. Multicoloured feathers that streamed through the air in a graceful arc came raining down on their heads like a rain of arrows, leaving shimmering light trails behind them on descent. The feathers embedded themselves into the ribbeting mob's bodies, exploding apart in bursts of colour.

Joey took note of the path way being violently blasted open for them, and made a run through.

"Hey, there's a clearing for us to get through, come on!" he yelled to Darren and Dvergamon, who quickly followed.

A couple of times, Gekomon were nearly on Joey, reaching and grabbing for him, only for a deep inky black puddle of shadow to open up beneath them and tug them down out of sight, trapping them in the concrete, as Cadmemon kept them covered.

By now, the Gekomon numbers were dwindling down, until only a few remained. Marinemon and Elvermon had been fighting their way with the tamers over, with Laelapmon offering support when she could. She'd been unleashing as many Gale Blades as she could, but was getting fatigued and starting to lag behind the two champions.

"Laelapmon... please don't push yourself, we've almost got them now..." Amy murmured, hurriedly picking her partner up as everyone kept moving, both she and Marina shielded either side by Marinemon and Elvermon.

On finally rejoining with Joey, Darren and the other Digimon, Barghestmon managed to finish off the remaining Gekomon with a final Mauthe Pyre.

The humans and their partners, after regressing back to their rookie stages, decided to get out of the street, and get to a quieter place. Barghestmon began leading them towards the park, which was now under cover of night. Cadmemon and Clefmon had broken off long before, vanishing off elsewhere, which had irked Manimon to no end.

"I bet they did this! The Resistance!" Manimon growled, pounding his fists together.

"It wasn't them." Barghestmon intercepted, staring down sternly at Manimon, "the Gekomon and their leader came through a Digital Gateway that was in the park. But the Gateway seems to have closed up, now..."

"Gateway?" Joey asked, wiping sweat from his forehead, where he had grown tired from all the dodging and weaving and running about.

"Woah, woah, woah. Hoooold up." Marina interrupted, holding up her hands. "Start from the beginning, please. We want to know what's going on here, you know?"

"Yes, we're kind of lost on this." Darren added, "Gateways, Resistance... all of it. We knew about Digimon attacking the city for a long time now, but all this is new to us."

"I will not get onto the subject of the Resistance... now isn't the time or place. But I'll tell you about the Gateways, and how tonight's battle even started." Barghestmon said, as everyone headed through the massive hole in the fence that ShogunGekomon had made.

Once everyone was seated on a bench, Barghestmon got comfortable in front of them, resting down. Laelapmon and Elfinmon were the only two digimon in the audience paying attention, since Denimon had taken a fascination with Manimon's tail and kept trying to nibble on it, with Manimon uselessly swatting at his face. Barghestmon ignored the pair of them and got started.

"That whole wave of Gekomon and their boss came through a Digital Gateway which opened up in this very park." Barghestmon began, "Likely, they heard the music, and the singing, coming from the Concert Hall, and went in a bee-line for it."

"Why weren't they exactly attacking back?" Joey asked, "Aside from after we killed the big guy, they rarely put up much in the way of a fight..."

"You're joking, right? That was an insane amount of champion-level Digimon in one area," Marina interrupted, looking at him incredulously. "We've fought off a few Digimon before, but nothing as ridiculous as that!"

"They were all infected with the Primal Virus." Barghestmon replied, bowing his head slightly. "From my own experience witnessing these things, I've come to the understanding that the virus starts as follows; first, the Digimon begins acting out of character, though still retaining a lot of their sanity and willpower. Next, as it progresses further, they may start becoming reckless. They tend to stop feeling pain, and might focus on things to the point of obsession, like a mania. In this case, ShogunGekomon and his followers were focused on music, which is something the species is universally known for. Because they might not feel pain, even though they're being attacked even brutally, it's like they don't notice their attackers until it's too late."

"God..." Marina murmured, reaching for Denimon and pulling him in close. She hated to think, if their partners were in threat from this, themselves, what the out come would be.

"And gradually, over time... they lose themselves to it entirely." Barghestmon continued, his expression a solemn one"They might start becoming delirious, and with whatever remains of their speech, tend to babble up garbled things, like memories, or recalling past conversations or the like... and in the final stages, they lose the last remaining shreds of their sanity, and go into a pure blood-lust, fuelled by the desire to kill. Everything and everyone becomes an enemy."

"And what about the Gateways? Why are those appearing? How, is someone opening them from the other side?" Darren asked, looking just as concerned as the other tamers present.

"I'll try to explain it in a way that might make sense, since it's... difficult." Barghestmon sighed, shifting slightly in his space. "All the infected Digimon are rounded up, regardless of the stage of progression of the virus, and put into quarantined sectors within the Digital World. Imagine it like this; each quarantined sector being like a paper bag. And you keep putting more and more things in, until the whole bag struggles to contain the sheer amount of things placed within it, until..."

"It splits apart..." Amy murmured, clinging anxiously to Laelapmon's body. Laelapmon seemed to lower her head down, feeling hopeless.

"Exactly... Yggdrasil, the being that manages and oversees the entire Digital World is under a lot of strain... it tries to shift these Digimon to an area that doesn't 'exist', so to speak, another area of the Digital World that isn't there, and the Digimon inside these sectors get thrown out through a Gateway."

"Which can open in the human world..." Manimon sighed, folding his arms, "I didn't think things were as bad as that..."

"Oh, they're terrible all right." Denimon commented, still eye-balling Manimon's tail as though it were cotton-candy. "I was sucked through one, and ended up in the real world ocean, it's how I met my beloved Marina!"

"Quit ogling my tail!" Manimon hissed, before he was hit by a wave of jealousy, that Denimon got to spend each moment with his idol, and decided that he and Denimon weren't likely to get along.

"Pay attention!" Barghestmon barked, which caused Denimon and Manimon to both jump, "you two can screw around in your own time!"

"S-Sorry, Barghestmon..." Manimon mumbled, backing right up into Joey's legs.

"S-Scary..." Denimon whimpered, completely wedging himself under the bench everyone was sat on, his head hung in shame.

"Anyway, I'm still studying the portals, there's still a lot of things I'm keeping check on... though there is a lot of things still a mystery to me, such as the origins of the virus, why it was made, what purpose it all seems to play." Barghestmon sighed, bowing his head low.

"But this whole virus thing, how... affected... is the digital world?" Joey asked, wringing his hands slightly.

"I haven't been back to the digital world for a few years, when I was last in it, it was bad. At least 25% of the surface of the world was infected. I fear it might be as high, or at least reaching, 50% now... if things continue like this... we may lose the Digital World to this threat..." Barghestmon sighed, looking agitated. "There's teams of Digimon working across the entire Digital World as we speak, trying to find ways of stopping it, or driving it away, but once it has a hold on you, it's impossible to fight off for very long."

"And if there is too much over-crowding... the real world might get over-run with Digimon..." Marina breathed, shaking slightly. "After the disaster that happened nearly a thousand years ago, what with the world changing, do we even stand a chance, letting that happen?"

The humans shifted about uneasily, this news did not bode well. There was still extreme cases of poverty throughout the world, even there in Japan, and many countries were still being rebuilt, salvaged or moved, to escape being ravaged by the sea.

"This has to be stopped, for the sake of both of our worlds." Barghestmon said, after a moments silence. "Which is why I believe it would be best, if you four could team up, and help defend yourselves and this place from being dragged under by those who would seek to otherwise completely annihilate you..."

After this, Barghestmon stood up and bid his fair-wells to everyone.

"Anyway, it is late, and I have kept you long enough. The next time we meet like this again... I will tell you what I know about the Resistance. But for now, think about what I said. I can't force you to become a team, I can't force you to fight for the many people that live in this city, but there may come a time when you have no choice." and with that, the big black dog began heading off.

"I'll find you in future, to see what your decision is. Until then, take care of yourselves."

The four humans remained silent for a long time, each seemingly letting the situation presented to them sink in. The silence was broken by Denimon and Elfinmon beginning to have brotherly roly-poly play-fights behind them.

"Denimon... please don't... this isn't exactly a good time for that..." Marina sighed, looking exhausted. She felt conflicted. She had her 'career' ahead of her, and was already walking on thin ice with her manager, and she was almost certain if she ran out of another show, she'd be fired, and her dreams would go up in smoke... but if she didn't fight for the safety of things, she felt as if she might as well give up on the dreams, if the future of the real world was really as at stake as Barghestmon had said.

"Marina..." Denimon murmured sadly, standing straight on his hind legs, and nuzzling her shoulder. "You've all got us Digimon by your sides, you know, we'll keep the city safe!"

"Yeah!" Elfinmon agreed, as he perched over Darren's shoulders, resting his chin on top of his tamer's head. "That doggy-dude is smart, he'll help us!"

"I know this has all been short notice, and we've only come together like this tonight, but..." Joey began, "well... I'm all for forming a team. And if we can find more tamers willing to fight along with us, people who are aware of the risks, I mean..." he paused, thinking about the amount of people who had 'digital assistants' and were unaware of the dangers facing them all, "People like us, you know? With partners, who actively go out and fight. If we could assemble a bigger team, we might just stand a chance."

"We already stand an advantage in some ways, though. Sure the infected Digimon get strong over time from the virus... but we can Digivolve!" Manimon grinned, pounding his fists together, "That's our upper hand on this, right?"

He completely missed Laelapmon wincing from his words, where her Digivolution had utterly failed to complete, for the second time. She turned away from the group, and sat away from them, shuddering slightly, the feeling of hopelessness and her low self-esteem starting to surface more strongly.

Amy bit her lip and tried to think of something to say... but she couldn't. Joey picked up on this, but decided against bringing it up around the others.

"It already takes a lot of pressure off of us, having another two people and their digimon around." Darren commented, standing up. "Well, I'm all for this, anyone interested in forming a team-up for the sake of Neo Tokyo, come forward now."

Darren held out his hand, with Joey not hesitating to place his hand on top.

"I'm in. I've always been in on this." he said, smiling.

Marina stood up next, dusting herself down a little. She decided her dreams would have to wait, and that the needs of the many outweighed her own ambitions.

"I... hope you realize that I am risking my dreams of becoming a proper musician aside, for this. And I don't mean that in a bad way... but I want to focus on what's important, and that means security for the city comes first." managing a brave smile, she placed her hand on top of the boys hands.

"You've always put other people's safety first, Marina... that's why you keep risking your career. Don't feel like you have to give up on things just because we're doing this." Darren said, nodding at her.

"Nobody has to give up anything, this is why we're becoming a team." Amy murmured quietly. She'd been hesitant to come forward, because of her worries about Laelapmon... and whether Laelapmon still had the heart to keep going, when she knew her partner's spirit was low. "So... we can cover for each other... if someone can't make it, we have people who can still fight... if someone falls, there's still three of us around to pick them up. I'm in."

And with that, the last tamer placed her hand forward.

"Alright, I think we've got ourselves a small team!" Darren grinned, folding his arms. "So, I think we should put aside some time to get to know each other, since we'll be meeting up more often in future, you know."

"I agree. When is a good time for us to meet up?" Joey asked, looking at the other three.

"I'm free from work over the week-end, Saturday and Sunday are good for me." Marina said, looking up at Darren, "Darren works with me, so he'll be free on those days, too."

"Alright, we should pick a good spot for Saturday, then." Joey said, already with a place in mind. "Actually, there's a nice little coffee place across from the concert hall... how does 12 o' clock sound?"

Everyone in the group collectively agreed on the time and place.

"That sounds good!" Denimon called up, "I like hot chocolate!"

"You goof-ball, we'll be inside our D-Drives in public!" Manimon muttered in exasperation, his paws on his hips.

"Inside our D-Drives...?" Elfinmon asked, looking confused.

"I didn't know that was even possible..." Marina stated, peering down at her D-Drive. "All this time, we had to have them hide some place close by, if we'd known about that sooner, we could've avoided a lot of... messy situations."

"You didn't buy PDAs?" Amy asked, looking confused. Aside from colours, their D-Drives all looked identical.

"No, what's special about the PDAs?" Darren asked, "We got D-Drives after our partners came to us themselves... I saved Elfinmon from some trouble a few years ago, and suddenly, it just appeared in-front of us, like a glowing light..."

"Same here, except Denimon had saved me..." Marina murmured quietly, rubbing the top of Denimon's snout, as he earnestly nuzzled his nose against her palm lovingly. "Did you get yours a different way?"

Now it was Amy's turn to feel a bit disheartened. Their meetings had been drawn together, as if by fate. She felt as though, if she had not gotten herself a PDA, then... she may never have even gotten a partner in the first place. Laelapmon, sensing this, seemed to force herself out of her own feelings of inadequacy, and pressed herself against Amy's legs, resting her front legs across her lap.

"Amy... I could feel it, in another place, wherever it was I came from... I was destined to meet you, too..." Laelapmon said softly, looking up worriedly. "It doesn't bother me where I came from, even if the other Digimon hate us for it... all I know is... it doesn't make what we have any less real... you're still my partner, Amy... you don't... doubt me, do you?"

"Oh god... that's not it at all, I don't doubt you at all, Laelapmon..." Amy murmured quietly, as the other tamers continued talking amongst themselves about the origins of their D-Drives, "I just felt like, if Joey hadn't taken me to get a PDA... It scared me, to think things may have changed... how I could have completely passed you by, and you would have been waiting, maybe forever, for someone that wasn't coming..."

"I still don't believe that... even if Mister Joey hadn't come with you, I still think we were as destined to meet as any other tamer and Digimon... okay?" Laelapmon commented, gently licking Amy's hand. "I'll... I'll try harder to be more useful to you and the team, in future..."

"Don't force yourself to Digivolve if... if it hurts you, Laelapmon..."Amy replied, "I'm sure we'll find out why you couldn't reach your next stage... so don't you worry, either, OK?"

"Okay, Amy..." Laelapmon sighed, resting her head in her lap. "...I love you."

"And I love you too, Laelapmon..." Amy murmured, stroking her head, smiling warmly.

"Well..." Joey spoke up, after he had instructed Marina and Darren on how to store their digimon away inside of their D-Drives, "That's settled then. Oh, and before we forget, how could we even think of leaving without properly introducing ourselves? I'm Joey Sawyer, and this is Manimon."

"I-I-I'm y-your biggest f-fan!" Manimon spluttered, suddenly all weak at the knees. He'd been hoping and praying ever since the fight finished to get a chance to talk to her, "W-We'd come to s-see your show... I s-so wanted your autograph a-and p-photo..."

Marina burst out laughing, finding his behaviour positively adorable.

"Wow, I don't think I've ever had a Digimon as a fan before... I'm sure something could be arranged on Saturday!" she said, which set Manimon off squealing in his fan-boy way, rolling back and forth across the floor in ecstasy. "Going by that knowledge, you probably know who I am, being that you were at the concert and all, but... I'm Marina Takahashi, and this is my partner, Denimon."

"I'm the blue ranger!" Denimon squealed, wind-milling his arms about energetically, "I fight crime and stuff!"

"You're a weirdo!" Manimon growled, snapping out of his fangasming enough to fling a small pebble into Denimon's nose.

"Hehehe! I made the bunny angry!" Denimon giggled, seemingly unphazed by getting hit by a small stone in the nose. "That's my _other _super power."

"And I'm Darren Scarlet, Marina's bodyguard, and this is my little green partner, Elfinmon." Darren commented, nudging Elfinmon with his foot.

"Huh? Oh right!" Elfinmon squeaked, as he'd been busy pawing at Darren's shoe laces. "I'm Elfinmon! Me and Denimon are beeeest friends!"

"Great..." Manimon grumbled, "that's two Digimon I'm putting on my hit list..."

"Did you say something just now?" Joey asked, shooting a glare down at Manimon, which made the little rabbit jump in fright.

"N-No! Nothing! P-Please don't hurt me..." Manimon squeaked, backing off, to the point he bashed into Laelapmon, causing her to whimper slightly.

"Careful!" Amy cautioned them, helping both Digimon back up. "And lastly, there's me and my partner. I'm Amy Hughes, and this is Laelapmon."

"It's been lovely to meet you all." Laelapmon barked, bowing her head politely, before gently pushing Manimon back over for constantly knocking into her when nobody was looking.

"Hey!" Manimon shrieked, rubbing his squashed tail sorely.

"Alright. It's gotten very late, and the next time we meet up, we'll have more time to discuss things in future. We should think about heading home." Joey sighed, picking Manimon up onto his feet again by hoisting him up by his ears.

"My eeaaarrsss..." Manimon sobbed, rubbing them afterwards.

"Yes... me and Darren need to head back to the Concert Hall... I'm sure my manager has a four page-letter screaming fit waiting for us." Marina sighed, as she stored Denimon up in her D-Drive with the Digitize command.

"Sorry if we held you up," Amy apologized, rubbing her arms from the chilliness of the night air.

"No, it's fine. This was more important, anyway. We learned a lot of things regarding the situation in the Digital World, and formed a team... it's nice, knowing there's other people with partners out there, fighting for the same causes. Whatever stuff my manager is going to yell at me about... well, I don't regret coming out here, that's for sure." Marina said.

"Anyway, we'll catch you on Saturday. Be seeing you." Darren called out, as he and Marina bid goodbye and began heading back to the Concert Hall.

Amy and Joey headed off towards the train station to catch the train home.

* * *

><p>"Is something bothering you?" Joey asked Amy, once they got home safe and sound.<p>

"It's just... Laelapmon's digivolving problem. It's really getting to her... I don't know what's wrong." Amy sighed, slumping down on her sofa tiredly.

Laelapmon was currently inside the home terminal, tidying up Amy's desktop and organizing her files for her neatly.

"I'm going to look into that at work. Especially since Marina and Darren said about how they got their D-Drives outside of Arch Angel's distributions. It makes me suspicious... of Arch Angel, I mean. On the outside, our D-Drives all looked the same, bar colours, but it makes me wonder if... our D-Drives are bugged... well, more specifically, yours." Joey sighed. "Because I'm an employee, I actually received my PDA, a 'business model' and Manimon at the actual work place, and we have no trouble digivolving, though that being said, I'm technically not supposed to know about digivolving at my current... position."

"I think I can see where this is going..." Amy replied, sitting up slightly, "Do you think they like... I don't know... put a lock on digivolving, on the consumer's models?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I think has happened... but now comes the bad news... I don't have the knowledge on how to remove that lock... and on top of this, I don't have access to the machines that deal with the hardware and software side of things at the office..." he sighed, staring over his own D-Drive. "So Laelapmon will probably not be able to digivolve correctly until I figure out how to bypass the lock..."

Amy swallowed slightly, feeling a little down over this. She wanted to be able to help as much as Laelapmon did, but with the bigger threats, if Laelapmon wasn't able to digivolve... how useful could their help possibly be?

"I wonder if Barghestmon would know about it..." Amy sighed. More than ever, she wished she knew how to contact him.

"He said he would help train our digimon, too... I don't know what he means by that, or when he plans on doing it..." Joey muttered, glancing off to the side.

"In his defence though, he'd said he had things to check up on... and he'd been watching over that Gateway, as well as having been trying to fight off all those Gekomon by himself..." Amy reasoned, shifting a little in her seat. "He did say he'll contact us when he's ready, though..."

"Well, I'm ready whenever he's able." Joey sighed, standing up. "Anything to make defending ourselves easier. If we can't defend ourself properly, how can we even expect to defend other people?"

"I guess..." Amy sighed, rubbing her arm sheepishly.

"Anyhow, I'm going to get some shut-eye. I'll see you in the morning." Joey commented, heading off back to his place.

After seeing him off, Amy yawned, bid goodnight to Laelapmon, who had fallen asleep against the trash can icon on the desktop, and headed off to bed.

* * *

><p>Joey couldn't seem to get to sleep, his thoughts keep constantly going back to the girl he'd met in the bar, and how it had made him remember back to the girl he'd had to leave behind on coming to Japan in search of answers.<p>

"Damn it..." he muttered, turning on his side.

All the feelings he'd tried to swallow down and forget about, knowing that coming to Japan meant he had to sacrifice a chance to be with her. He'd done it for the sake of his grandfather, and had left without even confessing his feelings to her... or even telling her goodbye.

But meeting 'Kaede' at the bar had made that surface again. He suddenly had the urge to want to contact her, and see how she was... if she didn't hate him by now.

Getting out of bed, he wandered towards his computer, and loaded up his personal non-work related emails... and looked up her address. He could still remember it, as well as her, though it had been a few years since they'd last spoken. She'd emailed him constantly, and he'd not replied... he'd found it too painful to. And now he regretted it.

He sat staring at the blank message, racking his brain to think of something to say.

_"Hey, I know we've not been speaking much for a long, long time.. I'm really sorry. I didn't forget you... or what happened, either. I hope you're doing well... I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner. _

_I'm not expecting a reply... just wanted to tell you that I still care._

_Thinking of you._

_-Joey."_

He sat, going over things in his head. He wished he could have had the guts to face her back then to tell her he was leaving... she would probably delete the message, if she hadn't already changed her email address, that is. But he wanted to get it off his chest.

He hit send with no regrets, and went back to sleep, desperately trying to take his mind off of everything bothering him, considering that tomorrow, he and the others would be meeting up together for the first time as their newly formed team.


	5. The Astral Project

Episode 5 - The Astral Project

* * *

><p>Darren and Marina were already sat down in the café. They'd arrived earlier than they needed to, and came in disguise. Marina was wearing ordinary, plain clothes, nothing fancy like she was expected to wear to events or on stage, just a simple hoodie pulled over her head, with a small pair of shades.<p>

Darren was wearing shades as well, and a plain shirt. Both of them looked like normal, typical people having a mid-day snack. Sighing with relief, Marina finally loosened up a bit and relaxed, resting back against her chair. She decided to pull her hood down, revealing her favourite 'lucky blue bandanna' she always wore outside of work.

"Thank goodness... there was a guy staring at us earlier, I was paranoid he recognized us..." she sighed, taking a sip of the hot chocolate she ordered. Denimon was peering around excitedly from inside her D-Drive.

"Oooh! Lots of higgledy-piggledy puddings and pies! Waaaahhh...!" he clapped his claws together, eye-balling the menu, "Marina, my itsy-bitsy-betty-boo, can't I have one? Pleeeeaaassseee?"

Marina sighed, knowing that it would be impossible to order anything for their digimon in a public place.

"I'm sorry, Denimon, but you can't... you need to stay inside the D-Drive in public, now..." she replied softly, pressing her finger against the screen, which he attempted to lick, even though she wouldn't feel it. "But at least you don't have to follow us around in the bushes any-more... and I'll buy you something sweet on the way home. Just have some patience."

"I liked hiding in the bushes!" Elfinmon commented, "Me and Denimon like to roly-poly around and play tag, or chase pigeons, or..."

"...Or steal things from the markets. You two are definitely not going unsupervised again." Darren sighed, raising an eyebrow down at the two digimon, who both grinned cheesily up at their tamers, trying to look innocent.

"I wonder when Pup-Puppy and Fluffle Bunny are coming?" Denimon asked, bouncing up and down on the screen, "Mister Bunny had a yummy tail, like cotton candy..."

Marina and Darren both seemed to look up at the door subconsciously at the same time, as if wondering the same thing. This was to be their first official meet-up, after all, and the circumstances hadn't been a normal one, that was certain. Both tamers thought about the swarm they'd had to fight off, the big dog digimon that had helped them, and also set this partnership in motion.

"I'm sure Joey and Amy will be here soon, with Manimon and Laelapmon." Marina murmured, in no surprise that Denimon was so excited, since her partner had always been overflowing with peppy energy.

"Are you nervous, Marina?" Darren asked, taking a bite out of a doughnut. Elfinmon and Denimon stared up at him enviously, with watering mouths. Denimon was salivating so hard it looked like his screen was slowly filling up with water.

"A little... there is still a big task we're taking on..." she sighed, stretching slightly. "But it's a step on the ladder... and I'm sure we'll find more people like us to add to the team."

"That's the spirit." Darren replied, nodding in agreement. "Considering how popular PDAs are, there's surely others who know the truth..."

They peered around the café, noticing quite a few people on PDAs, with their 'Digital Assistants' doing things like giving them weather and news updates, or playing games.

"I think so, too... especially with the... what was it called... Resistance?" Marina said, drinking some more hot chocolate. A droplet splattered over the screen, which poor Denimon tried to lick off uselessly, before she cleaned the screen off with a tissue.

"Aw..." Denimon sniffled, with big wet-looking eyes. "No fair..."

"What he said..." Elfinmon added, making goo-goo eyes up at the two tamers, who chose to try to ignore the cuteness.

The café door swung open, briefly letting in the noise from the traffic outside, and a whoosh of cold air, as the awaited pair entered inside from the street. Both Amy and Joey looked a little breathless from a very brisk walk from the station.

"Sorry we're late!" Amy called, causing both of the seated pair to look up. She and Joey were just coming in from the street, "The train was a little delayed..."

"A little?" Manimon's voice shrieked from Joey's D-Drive, "If I was that driver's boss, I'd sack him, then re-hire him so I could sack him again!"

"Alright, Manimon, calm down. What do you want, an Oscar?" Joey sighed, rolling his eyes as he and Amy grabbed two seats at the other pair's table.

"Mister Manimon, why don't you yell a little bit louder? I'm not sure the people over in Odaiba quite heard you." Laelapmon commented, teasing him a bit.

Manimon's ears stood on end at her remark over his noise, and he shot her a glare from inside Joey's D-Drive crossly.

"Laelapmon! You've become quite the cheeky little bi-" Manimon began, before Joey managed to quickly mute his D-Drive. Laelapmon pulled her tongue out at Manimon from her screen, causing Manimon to stamp his feet angrily, and march off-screen to have an almighty sulk.

"You've cheered up since yesterday," Joey commented to Laelapmon, who had now decided to lay on her back and paw up at the brightness icon on the D-Drive, until she accidentally pressed it, causing the light to dim down.

"Eek! Amy, everything went dark!" Laelapmon whimpered, her ears standing bolt upright from shock.

Amy laughed and reset the brightness, grinning down at Laelapmon, who was giving the brightness button a very stern glare.

"Yes, she's a lot more chipper... I think we both decided to try to be more optimistic in things, you know? Now we're in a team, we've got a bit more... slack, cut for us. Hopefully, no more pressure heaped on us all any-more." Amy said, resting her hands in her lap. Marina leaned forward, sitting more upright. She passed the blonde pair menus, wanting to treat them to something nice to better revive them after their rush to get to the café on time.

"I'm all for that, no more pressure sounds great..." Marina sighed, looking relieved. "Everything's always on the go, we've always had to juggle work and fighting off wild Digimon, so maybe now we can all get some form of order in all this chaos."

"Have you guys had much interference with digimon attacks?" Darren asked, as Marina went off to make a new order for Amy and Joey.

"I'm on a gap year, so aside from studies, I'm home most of the time..." Amy replied, rubbing her arm a little. "It doesn't really hold me up or get in the way... I suppose in that way, it's a shame, I've got the most time, and Laelapmon has the digivolution problem... it's unfortunate... but when we can get a hold of Barghestmon, I might see if we can, umm... make up for lost time with some bonus training."

Darren's interest was piqued further on hearing this, especially since Barghestmon didn't appear to have a tamer; if he did, they certainly weren't present at the fight. It seemed strange of a 'wild' Digimon to be mentoring ones who were in the care of humans.

"That big black dog digimon from before is training you?" Darren asked in curiosity.

"I'm sure he wouldn't mind training your partners up too... but I honestly don't think Elfinmon and Denimon need it. They handled things very well the other night, so I think they're fine." Joey commented.

Marina sat back down after coming back from ordering at the counter, and picked up her cup. She'd heard the snippet about Barghestmon, and wondered how often attacks in their area happened for them to need assistance.

"Do you get interrupted by digimon attacks, Joey?" Marina asked, taking another sip from her now lukewarm drink.

"Not so much interrupted... but it leaves us very little free time, that's for sure." Joey sighed, as a waitress brought Joey and Amy two steaming mugs of hot chocolate, and a doughnut each. Now it was Manimon and Laelapmon's turn to feel hungry. Both tamers glanced down at their D-Drives apologetically, and tried not to look too guilty.

Their was a short pause in the discussion, which caused everyone to feel a tad awkward, which was inevitable considering the circumstances. A journalist in the making, an Arch Angel apprentice, an idol singer and a bodyguard with different interests _would_ make things awkward on the first meeting.

"We'll have to get together like this more often when we have more time." Marina commented, after a short moment of silence, where the group had gotten a little quiet, where they were still getting used to each-other. "Especially since we'll be working together a lot, you know?"

"Oh yes, definitely..." Joey murmured, looking down at Manimon. He hoped Manimon wouldn't try the other's patience, he wasn't sure how Amy and Laelapmon could put up with the mouthy little rabbit's constant whining.

"So, Amy, what was it you were studying, again...?" Marina asked, peering over at the blonde girl from her seat, sitting herself more upright again. Denimon whimpered from her D-Drive hungrily, but unfortunately for him, nobody seemed to hear.

"Journalism, and world culture and heritage... as part of my stay here in Japan, I need to write about my experiences... I haven't had much chance to travel about much yet." She replied, wringing her hands a little in her lap.

"You're welcome to come out with us some time, Amy," Darren said, his arms folded behind his head where he was comfortably relaxed back in his seat, "Me and Marina know a lot of places around, and Marina's dad could probably tell you quite a bit about Old Japan."

Now it was Amy's turn to sit up in surprise, this revelation involving Old World places really having caught her off guard.

"Really? That'd be really helpful if you could do that for me..." Amy replied, looking a bit more perky from where she'd been anxiously fiddling with her wrist-bands, most of the group's tension and nervousness lifting.

"My dad is a 'salvager', so he brings back a lot of things from the under-water ruins around Under Tokyo, so you could come and photograph them for your work, Amy." Marina said, smiling a little.

"I don't think salvagers get paid enough..." Joey sighed, in reference to the low pay that people who did those sort of jobs received. "They help uncover a lot of what was lost going centuries ago, it really helps science and history groups recover information. And a lot of study is still going into what went on back in 2012, too."

"It's one of the biggest mysteries of our time, finding out what happened back then that messed up the world so much..." Darren sighed, also sitting up more. "Nobody knows what caused it, or why it happened. A popular theory thing, is it was some kind of mega-nuke..."

Thanks to Darren's comment, the group was suddenly buzzing with discussion and theories to whatever happened a centuries back leading up to the fateful day the world changed forever

"But there's no radiation, not even any records of any fall-out, nothing. They can't even pin-point the exact area the supposed cause happened..." Marina stated, "My dad has friends that work internationally, and they've not once picked up on any radiation or anything in the water that they could find that could suggest it was a nuke..."

"Any number of things could have happened... and that's why I was interested in taking up world history and journalism to try to see if I could discover anything, myself." Amy said, "My dad teaches history at a university back home, so I've grown up always wondering about the world, ehehe..."

There came a loud tapping sound, like someone knocking on a glass window, causing the entire group to stop and stare at Joey's D-Drive, as Manimon glared up at them all with fiery eyes.

"Maybe some day you guys can figure out all this stuff." Manimon called up from Joey's D-Drive, angrily "But right now, the rest of us are starvin', and I'd love to be stuffin' my face with doughnuts and coffee too, but unlike you guys, we kinda don't have that luxury!"

All of the tamers stared down at their D-Drives awkwardly, all feeling a little guilty. Their hungry partners stared up with mixed responses. Elfinmon was mildly frustrated, Denimon was teary-eyed, Manimon was borderline livid with rage, and Laelapmon was lethargically laying on her side, looking empty.

"O-Oh..." Amy murmured, stroking her finger against the screen. "we got a bit wrapped up in conversation there, I forgot you guys had said you were hungry..."

Laelapmon shifted a bit more, managing to get more upright into a sitting position, but her head hung down tiredly, her ears trailing across the "floor" inside the D-Drive.

"Can I have a bowl of milk...?" She murmured, a little more revived from her drowsiness, as she placed a paw against the screen. Amy gently pressed her finger against Laelapmon's paw, feeling immensely guilty, especially when Laelapmon began making 'the puppy eyes' at her.

"O-Of course you can, Laelapmon... you can have whatever you want, darling..." Amy murmured down at her soothingly.

"You're a dog, not a cat!" Manimon shrieked from his D-Drive, "I want a big greasy cheeseburger, I think I deserve that, having been kept waiting as long as I have!"

Joey lifted his D-Drive to his face so he and Manimon could glare at one another eye-to-eye, causing the pale rabbit to hurriedly button his lip.

"Don't push it, Manimon. Stop acting like such a princess..." Joey sighed, putting his D-Drive into his pocket. Manimon was already trying his patience to the limits, and he hoped the others wouldn't think negatively of him, but thankfully, the others seemed sympathetic of his plight to deal with the mouthiest rabbit in the known universe.

"I almost wanted to eat the fluffy bunnymon!" Denimon called, where he was currently playing rock-paper-scissors with Elfinmon from their respective screens. Both of them kept calling 'scissors' , so the game wasn't exactly one either was really winning.

"'Fluffy bunnymon' isn't on the menu, Denimon sweetie!" Marina laughed, "You can have your favourite cinnamon roll instead when we get home." Marina told Denimon, as she and Darren got up, putting their D-Drives away. Denimon squealed excitedly and accidentally bashed his face into the screen, causing him to fall back onto his behind.

"Yay! I'm going to have more candy inside me than a piñata!" Elfinmon giggled, from Darren's pocket, which made Darren grin in amusement.

"I wouldn't mind beating you up like a piñata, too..." Manimon growled under his breath, but thankfully, nobody heard him.

"Alright, then... well, I guess we'd all better head off and get these guys something to eat. Oh, but before then, would it be alright if we exchange phone numbers or something to keep in touch?" Marina asked.

"Oh, goodness, I almost forgot that... I guess we all just lost ourselves in the conversation." Amy replied, as everyone began taking out pens to write with, writing on napkins and anything to hand that could be used as a notepad, all exchanging phone numbers and emails with each other.

"Joey, you should come out for a drink with me some time." Darren said as everyone got their coats and bags. He'd noticed Joey had seemed just a little quiet around them all, and was hoping he could get Joey a little more out of his shell.

"Sure... I'd like that." Joey commented, feeling like he'd given a poor first impression... but he was embarrassed by Manimon's constant outbursts, which made trying to relax and socialize difficult... he thought back to the night he'd met 'Kaede' at the bar, and what a nice, relaxed evening that had been, (up until the gekomon swarm had arrived, of course.), all because Manimon hadn't been present to shoot his mouth off and act bratty, and spoil things.

"Alright then, I guess this about wraps things up for now. Let's keep in touch." Marina said, as everyone said their goodbyes and began heading off towards their respective homes.

* * *

><p>"Amy, Joey... what's the talk about things that happened almost a thousand years ago?" Laelapmon asked, once everyone was seated on the sofa back in Amy's apartment.<p>

"Well, in 2012, something major happened that shook everything up in a terrible way... most of the world was left in ruins, a lot of human and animal populations were wiped out, some even made extinct..." Amy began, stretching her feet a little after taking her shoes off.

"But nobody ever found out what caused it. The only records going back that far all say it was something like an explosion, a shock-wave... it sent a massive 'ripple' over the globe, with raging tsunamis and storms that ravaged things..." Joey continued, rubbing Laelapmon's head gently.

"There's been cases of volcanic activity that's been as bad as that, going even further back in time... but there's no volcanic activity that matches with destruction of that magnitude. It's a huge mystery, and on top of that, the world hasn't been the same since." Amy sighed, also giving Laelapmon an affectionate rub on the head. "The sea levels haven't gone down, some continents were shifted violently, some having sunken down and been completely submerged... it was a world-changing incident, and because people are still suffering in the present time, and the world is still rebuilding itself even now, it's obviously a major topic."

"It sounds terrifying... I don't want to think about how that must have been for people living back then..." Laelapmon sighed, resting her chin on Amy's knee, her expression a sullen one. She couldn't imagine what life for people who had survived had been like... or what the world must have been like back then.

Everyone seemed to drift off into deep thought about this, thinking of how grey and empty a world like that must have been, with constant storms, violent seas, and thick clouds that blotted out most of the sun.

"But... I think humanity is impressive, and strong, to pull through that..." Laelapmon commented, peering up at Amy and Joey, from her resting place. "Even though that happened, humanity is still striving to rebuild what it lost. I think I like the human spirit."

"That's more like it! No more of this depressing stuff, let's talk about victory!" Manimon lauded, pounding his gloved fists together. "Stiff upper lip and all that jazz! If you think about it, it's all about perseverance. Let's fight with that same spark, eh?"

"It's not so easy to just push forward like that, Manimon." Joey sighed, patting Manimon's long ears. "All we can really do is try our best at the end of the day."

Suddenly, both of their D-Drives began receiving a signal, which caused everyone to startle slightly and make a grab for their digivices. Barghestmon's icon was on the tracker... apparently, right where they were.

Laelapmon and Manimon rushed out, looking about madly. Manimon was staring down at the car park, which was empty and quiet, whilst Laelapmon stared up the side of the building.

"I think he's on the roof!" she barked, standing on her hind legs against the wall, raising her ears to listen.

There was a short silence, before the big dog's deep voice sounded down to confirm her claim.

"Very astute, young Laelapmon." Barghestmon called down idly. They could hear the big dog padding about above them as he paced about in waiting.

Wasting no time, both the tamers and their digimon rushed up the stairs, coming out onto the apartment's roof, which was bathed in the glow of the setting sun. Barghestmon was standing over by some chain link fencing and bench seats, staring over at them.

"I'd like to know your decision." He began, as everyone approached, bluntly cutting straight to the chase and skipping any form of greeting. "On forming the team."

"We've gone through with it." Joey said, leaning on the back of the bench, looking up at Barghestmon's face. "We made the team, it's official."

"Very good... I'm pleased to hear that. I would've been disappointed if you'd turned down a team like that... fighting this problem isn't going to be easy." Barghestmon stated, looking down at them all. "Anyway, aside from coming to receive any news on the team, which is good news indeed... I came to inform you that I have set aside time for you all to stop by for training."

Everyone seemed to be training their ears on this, focusing intently. The waiting seemed to be over, and their days of being at a disadvantage would soon be over... or so they could only hope.

"Monday evening, up on the hill overlooking the park. 6pm sharp. Are you able to make it for then? I am on a schedule, you know..." the big dog spoke, watching them all carefully.

"I can make it for then." Amy said, after a short pause. She peered down at Laelapmon, wondering if she should bring up about getting extra help, seeing as she couldn't exactly digivolve.

"I might be cutting it fine, depending on how work goes." Joey murmured, folding his arms. He wasn't exactly pleased with the time, but felt he couldn't just challenge Barghestmon's arranged time... especially since Barghestmon seemed so busy, though with what, he couldn't even hazard a guess. It's not like wild Digimon had jobs, exactly. "But I'll endeavour to get there for 6pm."

"Very good." Barghestmon replied, getting to his feet. As he turned to leave, Amy hurriedly reached out, and placed her hand on Barghestmon's shoulder. She was surprised at her boldness, there, but she felt she'd regret it more if she said nothing.

"Wait... please." She began, nervously, as the big dog turned his sharp red gaze onto her face. "Laelapmon is... having a little trouble... she can't seem to digivolve, and it's worrying me... is there any chance you might give us some 'extra' training, to make up for that?"

"Don't worry." Barghestmon replied, his usually stern expression softening slightly, which surprised both her and Laelapmon, who had been fretting him turning them down. "I'll see what I can do. With the training, it's not exactly going to be digivolution based as such... except perhaps for Dvergamon, to get him used to that extra weight from the machinery on him... but otherwise, I aim to get them used to fighting as they are. Master the basics, and only then do you move on to the advanced stuff. I wasn't going to start you off with something like that... besides, it's not good to purely rely on digivolving for every battle, you know. You need to conserve energy."

"T-Thank you, Barghestmon, we appreciate this…" Amy murmured, feeling much more relieved.

Laelapmon was overcome with gratitude, and hugged her smaller forelegs around Barghestmon's much thicker one, staring up at him with shining eyes.

"Thank you so much, Barghestmon!" she barked, her tail wagging happily. "It means a lot to me, really! I want to be able to fight and give it 100%!"

Manimon gave a short cough, causing Laelapmon to look around, and realize everyone else was staring at her. It then seemed to sink in that she was all but clinging to Barghestmon's leg, and nervously turning to look up, she caught him giving her a rather intense-looking stare… though he was smiling, in a canine-sort of way. Was he making fun of her? He seemed amused by it, and the whole situation seemed to make her poor face feel like it was on fire.

"O-Oh!" Laelapmon squeaked, hurriedly releasing his leg, and hurrying back over to Amy. The little white dog digimon decided to keep her back to the rest of the group to try to hide her embarrassment, where that little 'moment' had caused her cheeks to flare up a noticeable shade of red.

"Anyway..." Barghestmon started, after clearing his throat. "I've got business to attend to. I will see you then... in the mean time, take care." And with that, the big black dog turned, and leapt right off the edge of the building, vanishing into thin air.

"Thank goodness, I was wondering when he'd be ready." Joey sighed, leaning back against the bench.

"I know he can be a bit mysterious at times, but we have to be patient there, Joey." Amy replied, giving him an affectionate nudge in the arm. Both of them let out a sigh of relief however; the training was finally happening. The time had finally come. Things would be more in their favour from now on, or so they hoped.

Manimon turned his attention from the two humans over to Laelapmon, who was still seemingly flustered over her little accidental clingyness earlier, and smirked.

"Wow, I didn't know you had a thing for older men, Laelapmon!" he grinned impishly, leaning against her shoulder.

"S-Shut up, Manimon!" she barked, giving his ear a sharp nip, causing him to squeak and jump right up in the air, and come crashing back down on his chin.

"ARGH! That hurt!" he shrieked, rubbing his sore chin, as the human pair looked over at the little commotion.

"What now, Manimon? Are you two having another lover's tiff?" Joey teased, grinning.

"We're not lovers, and we're not tiffing!" Manimon shrieked, hopping about from one foot to the other.

"Sometimes you fight like an old married couple, so I wouldn't be surprised..." Amy added, looking rather thoughtful, though she too was just being playful with the digimon pair.

"I am not marrying Manimon!" Laelapmon huffed, hiding her face a little behind one of her long ears, "and whilst Barghestmon is... certainly not unattractive... I'm in no hurry to marry him, either!"

"AHA!" Manimon squealed, pointing both paws at her, hopping about look a circus flea, "So does that mean you'd marry him if you WERE in a hurry?"

It seemed to register with her how she'd just set herself up for that remark, and once more, her poor white face rapidly flushed a deep shade of red once again.

"You pesky rabbit! If you keep harassing me, I'll make sure Marina doesn't give you her autograph!" she barked back in response, "I'm sure she'll be ever so happy to know how rude her number one fan really is!"

"That wouldn't be too hard." Joey sighed, stretching. "What with how loud and boisterous you are." He grinned down at Manimon's shocked expression, as though his words had stabbed the poor rabbit right through the heart. Manimon looked absolutely appalled at these 'unfounded accusations' and hopped irritably from one foot to the other.

"How could you take her side over mine?" Manimon squealed, diving at Joey's legs, "Traitor, fiend, evil goldilocks glasses-man-person-thing!"

"Hey, don't attack Mr. Joey!" Laelapmon called, biting into Manimon's soft fluffy tail, holding him off. "He's being honest!"

"Oh, I see how it is!" Manimon sulked, leaving off. "If you care about him so much, why don't you marry Joey instead? Humph!"

"Stop trying to marry me off with random people!" Laelapmon wailed, hiding her face behind both ears this time, giving out a soft whimper, "How many more times must I bite you before you leave off?"

"I think he likes being bitten!" Joey laughed, standing up. "He's a bit of a masochist like that, hahaha!"

Manimon squealed over this comment, his own face reddening up a storm, as he and Laelapmon fell into play-wrestling each other. Joey looked over and noticed Amy had stood off to lean against the railings on the side of the roof, and headed over.

"Everything alright?" he asked, leaning on the side.

"Yes... I'm just thinking, is all." she replied, staring out over the city. The breeze was fairly cool, and made her shiver a bit, but she made no move to head back inside. "Of how different life is with digimon being present. It would've been so quiet and lonely without Laelapmon by my side... I would've just spent my days locked away in my apartment, writing away... That's why I'm going to try to do my best for her, too. I want to 'train' myself, so I can support her best in this. It's been so comforting to have her by my side when things have been so difficult for me, and I want to repay her somehow."

"Well, it'd still be nice having quiet times some of the time." Joey grinned, referring to his partner's energetic noisiness. "But yeah... I can't even remember what life was like before having Manimon in it... and whatever happens, I know you'll be giving her 100%. I'll try to find a way to remove the lock so she can digivolve... but until then... we'll have to rely on Barghestmon."

"Yes... right now, he's Laelapmon's only hope of getting more experience..." Amy sighed, looking at the digimon over her shoulder. She was glad to see the pair had apparently made up.

"Hey... I'm sorry if I upset you, keep going on about stuff like that..." Manimon sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "I was surprised to see you coming out of your shell, I guess..."

Laelapmon stared off to the side a little shyly, pawing at the end of one of her ears a little.

"I guess I'm still learning about myself a little... I'm trying to learn as much as I can about everything..." she replied, slowly turning her gaze back onto his. "I suppose your fieryness is rubbing off on me... I... I've always liked your assertiveness." she murmured, looking a little flushed again. "Even if you do take it too far sometimes!"

"H-Hey!" Manimon started, going to fire off again, before actually managing to stop himself. "...Thanks. As I see it, the more the world wants you silenced, the more you've got to speak out against it, right?"

"That's... actually pretty good." Amy said, coming over with Joey, as the pair picked their digimon up.

"Yeah! People have to speak their minds more, and be more assertive!" Manimon grinned, looking pleased with himself. "Like right now, I want pancakes, and I won't take no for an answer!"

"Alright, you. There's assertiveness, and then there's being bossy." Joey sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "What do we look like, your servants?"

"You don't want me to answer that, Joe." Manimon smirked, poking his tongue out up at him. Joey groaned and rolled his eyes, before ruffling his sassy partner's ears.

"Pancakes, at this time of day?" Amy laughed, "Well, alright then, I suppose."

"It is NEVER too late for pancakes!" Manimon replied insistently, "And I want them soaking in syrup! No, drowning in syrup... Nay, so far under, not even the best lifeguard could save them!"

"In other words," Laelapmon piped up, as they ended up traversing over to Joey's apartment, "you want them massacred!"

Amy and Joey laughed all too knowingly about the state Manimon's pancakes were always in, as well as anything else involving syrups, yoghurt or whipped cream. It would always resemble a murder scene as far as anyone else was concerned.

* * *

><p>"Mmm... those pancakes were delicious..." Manimon sighed, spinning around on a swivelling office chair, sat beside Joey's. "I wish the canteen here served pancakes..."<p>

"I'm glad they don't." Joey muttered, his eyes fixed on his computer screen, as he sorted through numerous lists, mostly going over databases and various graphical charts detailing sales figures... otherwise, completely boring tasks. "It took me and Amy hours cleaning you and the table up after the utter mess you made, I thought your fur was going to be stained from the tidal wave of syrup forever!"

"Well, it was worth it. Amy made damn good pancakes! She's almost as good as you, Joe." Manimon grinned, resting his feet up on Joey's desk as he lounged right back in his chair.

Arch Angel had perks in some ways. If Joey was working for any other office, Manimon would have to stay hidden inside his D-Drive all the time, which would likely get very boring for the little rabbit very quickly. Joey could still remember the ranting and raving Manimon dished out coming back from the meet-up at the café.

All around them, there were people working away, with their digimon by their sides. Some were running small errands for their partners, like carrying off paperwork or bringing back cups of tea or coffee. Joey was too focused on work to really be able to hear too much crowd noise going on, though it was a wonder he managed to get his work done when Manimon was hanging around like a persistent summer cold.

"Why don't you go to the gym, I'm sure it must be boring for you, sitting here, watching me work." Joey said, after a long pause, where Manimon had taken to drawing on bits of scrap paper... one image of which was himself with a body builder 6-pack with Marina's arms flung around his neck, kissing his face and proclaiming him to be her hero, with Denimon kissing his feet and worshipping him like a total fan boy.

Manimon's face flushed red, having felt positive his partner only mentioned the gym because of his ridiculous scribblings, which he quickly stuffed inside a drawer.

"No, I don't want to go down there by myself..." Manimon murmured, averting his gaze. There were a LOT of strong digimon training at the gym, some who seemed to be in their natural champion stage... and higher, though seeing ultimate levels and beyond seemed like a one in one hundred chance.

"Why, are you afraid of being seen as a pudgy little slacker next to those big strong champs?" Joey laughed, "I'll come down at break time with you, but don't expect me to use the gym equipment."

Joey wasn't averse to physical activity, but it often tended to get him fired up and made it impossible for him to be able to sit down and concentrate on his work again, so he didn't enjoy using the gym himself.

The gym was supposed to be for people training as security guards or Agents or for 'working out in the field', but a lot of people simply went to blow off steam and bond with their digimon partners together. There was even an entire hall full of small boxing or wrestling style rings, and another with three medium-sized arenas for rookie and champion level digimon to train against each other in friendly tournaments.

Joey and Manimon left their office and took the elevator downstairs, where they were going below ground level to reach the underground training facilities where the gym was. There was a cluster of people and their digimon crowding around the door to the gym, conversing loudly together excitedly.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Joey asked, approaching the crowd. Manimon placed his paws on his hips, tapping one of his big rabbity feet in annoyance that this crowd was blocking their passage into the training hall.

"Oh, didn't you hear?" one of the girls of the group gasped, clasping her hands together rather dramatically, "two Agents showed up, they're fighting in one of the friendly tournaments over in the arena hall!"

"Yeah, they're the newest ones, too... they've only been Agents for a year, they shot right up through the ranks, too! Their digimon are only rookies, but they show SERIOUS talent!" one of the guys in the group gushed. Even their digimon were impressed.

"You should see the lady's partner, she's cool as a cucumber, with these bewitching eyes, ooooh, I could get lost in her eyes for hours!" one of the digimon sighed, looking almost lovestruck.

"Yeah, and the red-head dude's partner is really strong, I once saw him KO an opponent in SECONDS! He like, did this kung-fu chop to the back of the head, his opponent didn't even know what hit 'im!" spluttered a second one.

Manimon simply rolled his eyes and tutted. Once he and Joey managed to squeeze through the crowd to get in, and he was out of earshot of the excited group, he launched off into another tirade.

"Huh! What makes the Agents so special?" he hissed frustratedly, stamping his feet a little with every step. "They're not THAT amazing, they're just a stupid bunch of stuck-up suck-ups!"

"And how would you know that? You don't know them personally. If it's the two I'm thinking of, they don't seem all that bad." Joey replied, his hands in his pockets. "Honestly? I think you're jealous, either of the digimon partner's powers, or their collective rise to fame."

Manimon seemed so livid that his face seemed to cycle between shades of red and blue, puffing up his cheeks angrily.

"That's not true! I just don't see what all the damn hype is about!" he growled, before suddenly stepping in front of Joey, staring up at him with a fire burning in his eyes. "Hey, I know exactly what we'll do!"

"Oh god, 'we'?" Joey sighed, folding his arms, and returning the stare back down at Manimon, unphazed.

"Yeah, WE. WE'RE gonna enter the tourney, too! And knock their stupid dumb egos down to size!" Manimon grinned, beating his fists together. "Come on, it'll be fun, maybe we'll get so popular we'll get tons of babes surrounding us all the time, yeah!"

"That is a very, very stupid reason for entering a tournament," Joey sighed, adjusting his glasses slightly. "But if you honestly don't mind getting the crap beaten out of you, then fine. It's not my problem."

Joey inwardly hoped that Manimon would learn to use some humility and perhaps learn something from this as they entered into the hall. There was a crowd gathered around the arena, with a match that had apparently just finished.

"Yalimon, good job, man! You did well, keep it up!" called a man dressed in a smart black suit, from the other end of the arena, standing on a small platform. Beside him was a young woman, also wearing a suit, and a pair of shades.

"Panthermon, you and Yalimon need to react faster, next time." she advised, as if chiding the pair slightly. "Treat these battles as you would real ones. There's no need to be so 'sporting'."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being chivalrous, Zee-zee." the man replied, grinning in a silly way and nudging her shoulder playfully. "This is just for fun, when we go back to advanced training later, they'll be working out hard then, but for now, there's no harm letting them have a bit of fun with this, right?"

Joey and Manimon both took in a good look of the agents, though Joey had seen them around more than Manimon, the small rabbit digimon felt he would never get used to seeing them or their digimon at all- the mere sight of them seemed to set off this unstoppable drive inside himself that made him want to seek improvement. Joey wasn't sure whether to be pleased with this, or slightly disappointed.

The 'Agents' of Arch Angel do not go by their full names, merely by the first letter of their first name, presumably to keep their identities hidden. J and Z were the agents here at the tournament, and the only ones really 'known' to anyone in the 'lesser job sectors' at the company.

J had blazing red hair, and wore numerous piercings in one ear, and was usually never seen without a lollipop... mostly because he was trying to give up smoking, and the treat acted as a nice substitute. He was definitely the more warm and cheerful of the two, which was quite surprising, since the Agents were not known for being smiley or openly showing any emotion other than apathy. He also seemed to have a more laid-back and relaxed vibe about him when on a break, or so Joey thought, from the times he'd seen J and Z about in this area.

Z on the other hand was nearly his exact opposite. Dark blue hair, and always wearing shades, even inside, always hiding her eyes. Whilst she wasn't exactly cold to the point of having a 'heart of stone', she did seem more disciplined and focused, but she was known to have quite a temper on her (usually directed at J) and more involved in her work. Aside from J, she didn't really seem like she opened up to others much, not even on a work basis, and kept to herself. She and J were rarely ever apart from each other, though.

Manimon was focused more on the digimon; he'd seen a glimpse of them both before, but not enough to warrant a proper opinion on them (beyond deciding outright that 'he hated them' and 'they suck'.) He gritted his teeth slightly in frustration, because this seemed to be a 2-vs-2 tournament, and that meant finding a partner to help him fight them off.

Yalimon was some kind of strange two-legged dog or lion-like creature, with gold holy-rings around his wrists, and another around his tail. A thick, wild mane that ran from his head down his shoulders and back obscured his eyes, and by the slow, lazy sound of his voice, Manimon pretty much decided he was some kind of 'tree-hugging hippie freak hick'

Panthermon on the other hand was sleek and held herself in a typically graceful feline poise. She had a golden circlet worn on her head, and a floating gold halo-like collar, with visible light pinky-purple perfume-like cloudy wisps flowing from her head, tail tip and from her ears. She had eyes just as sharp as her partner's frosty stare, and Manimon thought her to be a 'prim and proper little stuck-up princess'.

They seemed like they wouldn't have made a good team, personality wise, but they must have had some 'secret' to their success, or so Manimon thought.

"Hah... this'll be easy! All we have to do is find someone to partner up with, eh?" Manimon laughed, a little uneasily. This was going to be easier said than done; the people interested in participating already had partners, and time to enter for the next round was running out.

"This is stupid, Manimon... why do you want to enter, anyway? It's like you're out to prove something." Joey sighed, sitting down at a seating area beside the arena, whilst Manimon rushed around through crowds, trying to find a partner.

"I want to knock their egos down to size!" Manimon called back, stumbling about unsuccessfully.

Joey sighed; the agent pair and their digimon didn't seem egotistical or show-offy in the slightest. He was positive Manimon was just doing this out of envy, or perhaps to prove he was every bit as capable a fighter or deserving of praise as the agent's digimon.

However, all of Manimon's hollering and yammering for a partner finally pulled off as a digimon approached, apparently keen to take up the offer.

"Wowee, you're really looking to enter?" called the medium-sized, snake-like digimon, that came rushing over to Manimon.

"Yeah, I am... are you? If not, get outta here, 'cause only willing potential team mates are worth my time!" Manimon huffed impatiently, as the stranger approached.

"Manimon, don't be rude! Especially not to someone that seems interested in offering some help..." Joey chided him from his seat, sitting up a little.

"Hey, hey! Calm down, horn-head!" the fluffy snake-like digimon replied. She seemed rather perky and energetic, her paws on her hips. She was a tatzelwurm-based digimon, and so had characteristics of snake and cat in her. "I'm Tatzelmon, by the way, but you can call me Tat! And I, too, am eager to join the arena fight!"

"Like I couldn't guess that..." Manimon muttered, in an off-hand manner. Both digimon and Joey looked up on hearing a girl's voice calling for Tatzelmon, before a rather shaken looking young woman managed to push her way through the crowds, rushing over and wrapping her arms around Tatzelmon tight.

"God... please don't vanish off like that again!" the woman sighed, seeming shaken. "I thought you'd run off..."

"Is everything alright?" Joey asked, getting up and joining them all properly. "You look a little shaken up, there..."

He adjusted his glasses and observed the woman joining them. She had mousy brown hair with ornamental flower hair clips, and light pink nails, and earrings and a necklace with flora-shaped gemstones to go with her hair clips, otherwise just wearing the standard office uniform.

"A-ah... it's my first day here, and I'm just... shocked..." the women sighed, "I'm not used to these working conditions... my last office job certainly didn't involve babysitting AND pet-training..."

She looked exhausted already, and anxious, doubting herself. This probably hadn't been the smartest move on her part, but she'd been desperate for this job to support and sustain herself, but hadn't realized it came with working with 'talking monsters' with seemingly limitless energy.

"It's a bit overwhelming at first, but you get used to it, eventually..." Joey sympathized, as he watched Manimon trying to prevent Tatzelmon from coiling around him in some kind of snake-bear hug, "or rather... it's more of a case of not having any choice, haha..."

"I guess that's true..." the woman laughed, rubbing one arm sheepishly. "O-Oh... I'm Kurumi, by the way..." she added, remembering that she hadn't introduced herself. She offered her hand to Joey, and he took it, shaking it in greeting.

"Pleased to meet you, Kurumi. I'm Joey, and this is my partner, Manimon... I'm afraid it seems he's roped your digimon into some silly tournament..." Joey sighed apologetically, giving Manimon a sharp glance. He really wished Manimon would slow down and be more mindful of his surroundings and people around him, but he might as well have wished for pigs to grow wings and fly, because the chances of that ever happening seemed near impossible at this stage.

"I think you've, ah, met Tatzelmon, by the looks of things..." Kurumi sighed, trying to prize her partner off of Manimon's face. "Tat, please stop that! That's so rude!"

"But he's soooo soft and fluffy, I just had to feel every inch of the softness..." Tatzelmon sighed, folding her arms behind her head. She seemed to dance in a serpentine way on the spot, humming cheerfully, her body winding back and forth in time to her song, in a way that seemed to hypnotize Manimon, before he hurriedly shook his head and snapped out of it.

"Hey! That sounds rude, don't word things like that, you creepy coil-fiend!" Manimon growled, folding his arms crossly.

"Anyway, the horny bunny wants help for the tournament, so I offered to help him, alright?" Tatzelmon commented, as if it was already decided from then on. Both Kurumi and Joey exchanged exasperated glances; it seemed their digimon just couldn't be stopped.

"Tatzelmon..." Kurumi murmured, reaching and placing her hand on the tatzelwurm's shoulder gingerly, like she really wasn't sure how to go about this, "I've only started work today... you've only been in existance for a week or so outside of my PDA, is this wise?"

"Part of our jobs involves training our digimon and then studying them, their coding, their statistics and their performance and so on." Joey interjected, though he didn't sound in favour of, nor against, Tatzelmon involving herself in Manimon's bid to beat down two higher-ranking employees he simply didn't like the looks of.

"Alright, enough mindless banter, let's cut to the chase and get this show on the road, already!" Manimon called, smirking. He was sure as sure this would be a piece of cake, now that he'd found a 'meat shield' to help him get through to hopefully fight the Agents, who were signed back up for one last small 'tournament'.

* * *

><p>Elsewhere in the building, two agents were standing just outside Hal Becker's office, standing guard, and awaiting his appearance to escort him to the main laboratory.<p>

"So... the boss will be seeing the main experiment, today." Agent B commented quietly. He was a tall man, with dark purple hair with a lighter 'blaze' of purple going through it, with an expression that seemed impossible to read. He folded his arms across his chest, and leaned back against the wall beside the thick door of Hal's office, thinking away. "Nervous?"

The man beside him, Agent L, flinched slightly at being spoken to. He had jet black hair that seemed to cover one eye on one side of his face, and was of a quiet disposition, and incredibly introverted.

"Y-Yes, v-very..." he stammered awkwardly, staring down at his feet. The speech therapy he'd been attending to try to fix his stammer seemed ineffectual, not helped from his natural twitchyness. Agent B was a patient man, though, and never thought poorly of him for this. They got on very well, and this cemented the pair's partnership together.

"I don't know if we'll even get to see inside. Only the science team has ever been inside that room down there." B sighed, glancing at L's face. "But I doubt it'll be anything to worry about."

"I h-hope you're r-right..." L stammered back, nervously. His eyes darted at the door, as if fearing Hal would walk out at any moment and reprimand them for gossiping about this like they were. "I h-heard strange things a-about that place... y-you know?"

"It's probably just rumours. Nothing to worry about." B sighed. But he'd heard the rumours too, that Hal and his science team were working on something huge down there. He shifted slightly, and straightened up more. "Oh, heads up. I hear movement."

Both of them stood to attention, though L was noticeably shaken, and couldn't stop trembling, and the harder he tried, the more noticeable he felt it was. Footsteps approached from within, and tapping could be heard at the button pad on the other side, causing the thick iron shutters to slide open, revealing their boss, apparently ready to depart.

Hal stepped through the door, in complete silence, simply nodding at them both to follow at his side. He was rather young to be running such a huge business as this, only 26 years of age, but he had a team of advisers doing most of the work. His main concerns were not really running the company, but this huge project of his few knew could only wonder about, yet none dared question his strange work ethics or how he ran the place.

Hal also stood out for things more than a strange work ethic. Everything about him was as white as snow, and just as cold, appearance wise. He'd been born with albinism, and so his hair and skin were white from missing pigments that would have otherwise given him some form of colour. His eyes also seemed to appear slightly pale lilac depending on the light, too. Most people would do a double-take on seeing him for the first time, because he certainly didn't fit the perception of a corporate boss.

Another thing others noticed, especially perhaps L, was the cold emptiness in his eyes. Hal was not a social man, and he seemed to either look through people, or look at them in such a way that if looks could kill, he would've murdered thousands with a single glance. That coldness was constant, and any emotion at all other than anger rarely ever showed itself on his expression. Despite his thin, almost frail-looking build especially when compared against B, his entire cold exterior was very off-putting and intimidating.

Stepping into the elevator, Hal stood in between his bodyguards, with his hands in his pockets, in deep thought. He was going down to check up on his project, and he hoped they had better news for him. His project, or rather, experiment, had started a few years ago, and each attempt had been met with failure, but he refused to give up. If the man had at least two positive traits to readily show themselves, it was his motivation, and his persistence.

On reaching the absolute bottom level of the building, which was below even the subway lines now, the small group finally exited the elevator. For L and B, this had felt like an eternity, but for Hal, it hadn't felt long at all.

"You are to wait for me outside." Hal instructed them in a voice devoid of any emotion, and this was all he said as he left them to wait in suspense.

Approaching the retinal and hand scanner, he waited until the scanner recognized him, and opened the thick series of iron doors one after the other down an increasingly darkening corridor, until he reached his destination, a room so dark even the glow from the numerous screens and buttons lighting up in their neon-coloured glowing couldn't fully penetrate the gloom.

"Alma, what's the news?" Hal asked the young woman who had been waiting for him.

Alma had been working at the company before Hal had even taken over his position when his grandfather had become ill, and eventually passed away. She was one of the highest ranked on his team, and had been in a veterinary practise and studying animal behaviour and psychology before that. She had also steadily lost her eyesight over the years, and was now blind, without the aid of a special visor across her eyes that fed information into tiny implants in her eyes that could allow her to see, though perhaps not as perfectly as was possible, but she never complained.

"Fantastic news, sir." She responded, looking very pleased. "The experiment is doing well... of all the ones made so far, this one has really surprised us- it stabilized itself quickly, much quicker than all the others. Health wise, it's too early to tell... it's in the human equivalent of an embryonic stage, but it's already responding to advanced stimulus, and... well... come and have a look at this!"

Alma led him over to a series of computer terminals stood before a gigantic tank, which contained a small semi-translucent figure within. It was undeniably a digimon, curled around it's own digicore, clinging to it tight for dear life. It's eyes had not yet formed, and a lot of it's skin had yet to even begin growing over it's wire-frame body. It's long embryo-like tail wrapped around the digicore, which connected into a wire leading up into the ceiling of the tank. Several more wires were attached to it's tiny, fragile form, and particles forming inside the tube were being drawn towards, and absorbed, into it, shaping and defining it's form.

This current stage of development had taken weeks of careful planning, monitoring and work, always watching over it, always studying it intensely. The first successful attempt at having created a digimon based on very, very specific data, for something incredibly large scale, and it was right before them.

"I... ran a series of tests on it, and I'd love to report my findings. The capabilities of it's mind are astonishing, for something only a few weeks old." Alma began, bringing up a series of charts, similar to a human's brain activity scans, "Our tests are unique ones, but very relevant to what you wanted, sir. We gave it small images, say, the corner of a photograph of a flower field, and told it that it was to recreate or fill in the blanks, what it imagined the rest of the photo to look like."

Hal looked through the scans in silence, listening intently, as Alma excitedly continued on.

"Miyuki and I gave it a colour pallet to work with, all of this fed into it's mind through the wires connecting it with the world outside it's birth tank. We described things like trees, wind, the sky, water... and we asked it to construct a setting based on these descriptions, based on things it has never seen before, using only a small grey scale photo snippet, and the chamber surrounded the tank, well..."

She excitedly turned to a second terminal and brought up a video recording they'd made of the incident.

"Look at the world it constructed based purely on it's imagination!"

Hal stared at the screen, hypnotized at what was about to happen, and for once, a smile seemed to play on his lips, though his eyes were still as cold as ever.

The chamber surrounding the tank was one specially designed to show the experiment's dreams in a physical real-life setting. Hal watched as his creation began to create and shape the world of it's dreams based on description and brief references around it. Immediately, the chamber was awash with colour, bright blue skies it had never been under, soft fluffy white clouds, rolling hills of greenery and flowers dancing on a breeze it never felt, trees standing tall against the sky, a cool flowing river... the picturesque image of beauty. The image of a world from centuries ago, before everything was destroyed.

Even in the artificial parks scattered through Neo Tokyo, those man-made places could never compare to the beauty of the Old World, the world the experiment had been influenced to dream of.

"Incredible... for something made of just data, Astralmon is truly going to make history..." Hal breathed, turning from the video recording to stare up at the being in the tank. "A child of limitless potential... this makes the previous failures worth it, to have made it to the one that survived the first few days of existance... Alma, make damn sure this one survives. I would hate to lose such promising talent."

It was a direct order for her, and one he meant very seriously. Hal's briefly impressed tone soon returned to its usual coldness, causing Alma to flinch. He had not felt any sorrow or pity for the previous attempts at creating a digital life-form's slow, agonized deterioration, even when the poor things unearthly screams had flooded through the entire laboratory. He'd felt nothing but disappointment, and anger.

There would be no telling what his reaction would be if this attempt failed.

* * *

><p>"Moon Fire!"<p>

Manimon's attack hit home on his opponent, an Elecmon, sending it flying backwards in a ball of white flame. The digimon smashed hard into the ground, and with a soft groan, fell unconscious.

Manimon and Tatzelmon had been busy fighting through the rounds. Most of the action had been very fast paced, and so each round went by rather fast, since, after all, they were fighting during break time, and so special 'rules' had been set down.

Every combatant had been given an artificial health meter viewable only to their partners and the arena referee, and when the meter reached zero, the digimon would become incapable of going through to the next round. There was also a clock counting down, and whoever had the most health remaining, if none had been knocked out, took their partner through to the next round.

"Vile Constrict!" yelled Tatzelmon, who sprung forward like a coiled spring, into the remaining digimon, a Penguinmon. Her snake-like body stretched like elastic rubber and coiled tightly around the other digimon's body, before tightening right up, in a bid to crush and choke her penguin foe into submission.

Despite it's best efforts however, in it's increasingly weakened attempts to break free, the Penguinmon had fallen.

"Team Moon-Snake wins! The final round is up next, so get ready!" the referee called down from his judging platform. The fallen pair's tamers came out and digitized their partners back into their D-Drives (of which every employee with a realized partner had one due to the nature of realizing them.)

Manimon wrung his paws slightly, and jogged on the spot a little to get himself pepped up. This is it, what they'd been fighting for... or rather, what HE had been fighting for. The tension was almost killing him.

"Nervous?" Tatzelmon called, giving a long stretch, leaning back on her tail. "You ain't half bad, for a fluffy bunny!"

"And you ain't half bad, for a sassy kitty-snake," Manimon grinned, flexing slightly. But he did feel very nervous, considering that now he'd put his pride on the line, the final showdown would test to see if he really was as capable as he'd thought he was.

Joey rolled his eyes above them and called down at the pair, "Stop flirting and focus, Manimon. The fight you wanted is up next, right?"

Kurumi couldn't help but giggle slightly at Manimon's reaction to being accused of 'flirting' with the 'horrid snake' (as he'd been calling her for the first few rounds). She'd gotten to like the energy and thrills of the fights, and Tatzelmon had been having a blast.

"It's a good way for them to blow off some steam by the looks of things," she commented, leaning forward in her seat some more. "Do you bring Manimon down here much?"

"Sometimes, depends on if I feel like letting him get himself into trouble," Joey replied, wiping his glasses down. It was a tad too hot down in the arenas from all the crowds and fighting going on... and speaking of crowds, there was a huge number of people all up top watching. Some were normal employees, others were there to record the results of the fights, especially ones keeping record of individual digimon's training progress.

"If you'd asked me last year where I would've ended up, I never would have seen myself training up a sentient monster snake." Kurumi stated excitedly. "I always wanted to work in a quiet, peaceful job, but this certainly turned my world upside down..."

"Haha, well, you'll love it I'm sure," Joey replied back, smiling. "And having a soft cuddly room-mate isn't too bad I suppose."

On the times Joey had been very stressed out and upset, when simply cleaning the apartment (one of his favourite stress-relief activities) hadn't helped, sitting down with a hot drink and stroking Manimon's soft ears always did the trick. Even if the two had their bad moments, they had a lot of good moments, too. Joey certainly didn't regret getting Manimon as a partner, and the two knew each other better than anyone else.

Joey looked across at the opposite contender stands, and saw J and Z take their places. The iron doors slid open again, showing the pair's digimon partners emerge from the darkness of the room beyond.

Yalimon cricked his neck and knuckles, scuffling one of his feet against the floor, Panthermon stretching in her feline way beside him.

"This ought to be a good 'un, Panthy." the shaggy-haired purple beast commented to his partner. "Them newbies did good, didn't they?"

"They will go down just as fast as the rest, I'm quite sure." Panthermon commented dryly, inspecting her claws a little, "Good as they are, that rabbit in particular lets his heart rule his head too much."

"Y-You were spying on us?" Manimon growled from across the arena, his large ears not missing a detail of the conversation, "That ain't fair! Besides, I'm going to be the one to take BOTH of you down!"

Tatzelmon glared at Manimon sharply, folding her small arms across her chest in anger. She'd helped get him this far, and she didn't want to be dismissed like that. Grabbing Manimon's tail, she pulled him back and made him look at her face, eye to eye.

"Just who was it that helped save your bunny-butt in the previous round when that Elecmon had you up against the wall?" she growled, keeping her voice low, "I deserve at least SOME respect, y'know? This is why you don't have a girlfriend!"

"Ooooh, you sassy little cow, if those guys don't tear your tail a new one, I certainly will, after this fight!" Manimon fired back. Both of them glared at each other, and took their positions.

Kurumi and Joey both gave each other nervous looks. They hadn't heard what had gone on between their digimon, but the tension was obviously getting to them, and where they had previously stuck together in the previous rounds, to the point of showing an interesting sort of chemistry, it was now left in tatters.

"What's going on...?" Kurumi asked Joey nervously, wishing she knew just what was being said down there to set the two off.

"It's very tense all of a sudden..." Joey replied, "maybe they're nervous. This was the fight Manimon was waiting for..."

The referee blew the whistle for the match to begin, and everything seemed to set off all at once. The digimon in the arena began to circle around each other, keeping their eyes fixed on their opponents.

Manimon was thinking up using the tactic of picking off the weakest first, and physically speaking, Panthermon was less of a threat than Yalimon; he'd seen what the hairy purple lion-dog was capable of, and he didn't like it one bit.

However, Yalimon must have been sharing the same ideas, because he was sizing Manimon up, readying himself for a charge. Just as he began to rush at Manimon, his fists balled up ready to strike, Tatzelmon sailed past, her long serpentine body wrapping tight around the purple digimon's body, restraining his arms down against his sides.

"Vile Constrict!" Tatzelmon called, every muscle in her body tensing up, causing her already tight hold on Yalimon to increase drastically, to the point of choking. Yalimon struggled to get himself free, but some quick thinking on his part was all that spared him.

Tatzelmon had been stupid enough to keep her paws near his face, and he was able to open his jaws up wide, and slam them down like a bear trap onto Tatzelmon's small paw. The cat-snake screamed in agony, her body going slack, before swishing about madly in pain like a whip.

"You done messed up on that 'un, snake girl." Yalimon murmured in his slow, lazy sounding voice, after releasing her hand from his grip. Data particles fountained out of the wound on her hand briefly, causing her to blanch back slightly.

"God Hand!" Yalimon called out, before Tatzelmon had a chance to recollect herself. His balled up fists began to glow with a bright gold light, before he pulled his arm back and then unleashed a powerful punch, right between her eyes. The light around his fist that had collected exploded violently on impact, and the force sent her flying back, right over Manimon's head, and into the arena wall.

Manimon stared in disbelief as her body sank down to the ground, unconscious, save for a few horrid looking convulsions. Turning, the rabbit stared back at Yalimon, whose bout with Tatzelmon had distracted him... he was still distracted now, even with Panthermon fast closing in on him. By time he realized what was going on, it was already far too late.

"Perfumed Hypnosis..." Panthermon purred, in a voice smoother than silk, from just behind the rabbit digimon.

The strange, wispy, purple mist-like substance flowing from her ears and tail tip seemed to wrap around Manimon, clouding over his senses. He lost all focus on the fight, becoming mesmerized and lost in a trance-like state around Panthermon.

"N-Nnh..." Manimon gasped, the perfume-like misty substance almost smothering him, before he seemed to remember that all the whilst Yalimon was still up and about he was in danger. Tatzelmon's defeat replayed again in his mind, snapping him out of his stupor enough to initiate an attack.

"DAZZLE!" he yelled, his horn giving off a quick, bright flash. He'd disrupted Panthermon's own move, where she'd pulled off to shield her eyes, which were teared up and blinking several times, where she'd been temporarily blinded.

Manimon was not so successful with Yalimon. The light purple furred beast simply tilted his head in confusion, where he hadn't been affected, due to his thick and wild mane covering his eyes.

"What?" Manimon yelled in a panic, as Yalimon descended on him with glowing fists.

"Hallowed Systema!" Yalimon called, before catching Manimon up in a barrage of swift punches and kicks.

Yalimon's general running speed was laughably poor, but Manimon found nothing to laugh over in regards to his brutal melee combat attacking speeds. He had virtually no time to cover or get away once Yalimon was on top of him, raining down blows on his head, and chest, and gut. One final 'charged' punch from the finisher made Manimon feel as though as skull would explode as he got smashed flying across the ground, crashing into the wall, knocked completely unconscious.

"Team Moon-Snake down! Yalimon and Panthermon's winning streak continues!" the announcer cheered into the microphone, above the deafening roar of the crowds. Manimon was too far gone to hear the crowd, not even realizing his 'dream' of beating his supposed rivals gone up in smoke.

Joey and Kurumi rushed out, hurriedly digitizing Manimon and Tatzelmon, the Agents coming out on the opposite side and digitizing their own partners.

"Sorry about that." J called, coming over. "Yalimon isn't aware of his own strength sometimes..."

"W-Will they be okay?" Kurumi asked, almost jumping J for an immediate answer, "Please, they got really hurt out there!"

"Do calm down." Z snapped icily, "just take them to the medical ward and let them rest in bed for a few hours. The medics will see to them."

Kurumi and Z both glared at each other, Kurumi wishing Z, considering her side won, would show a bit more compassion, and Z wishing Kurumi would stop getting so emotional because it 'wasn't professional'. Joey stared nervously between the pair, before J thankfully got in-between them both.

"What she said." J grinned, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Want me to show you the way there? The beds in the medical ward are dead comfy, sometimes I steal a nap in one when I'm off duty..."

"J..." Z muttered, nursing her temples from an oncoming headache. "Firstly, we need to get back to work, and secondly, I wish you'd stop being so... unprofessional!"

"Aww, babe, thanks for the concern, but you don't have to nag me." J smirked, teasing with a strand of her blue hair before her hand smacked his away defensively. He smiled at her pouting face and began to lead the others away. "You guys did good to even get to the finals on your first go, your digimon did good out there."

"Manimon had his heart set on it, but things went wrong in the final round it seemed. He and Tatzelmon had some kind of disagreement." Joey commented, staring down at his D-Drive. Manimon's icon was darkened, and he wasn't regenerating his health, which made him feel nervous.

Agent J peered down at the D-Drive and tutted slightly, as he lead them into the medical wards, and explained to a nurse on hand what happened, and she quickly got the digimon to two beds, hooking them up to a special life support machine made just for digimon. Manimon and Tatzelmon were both laid out on beds to rest as the nurse explained.

"Some injuries can be so severe, internally or mentally, that the D-Drive just can't fix them on it's own. That's where this machine comes in. It's akin to forcing a hard-reset on a computer... but nothing bad will happen. They'll be monitored regularly." the nurse assured them.

Joey stroked Manimon's ears, sitting beside Kurumi, who was likewise rubbing Tatzelmon's paw in silence. The pair sat there until it was time to head back to their places in the office and finish work. Joey hoped that when Manimon came to, he'd perhaps start learning to use his head before putting himself in troublesome situations.

* * *

><p>Some time a lot later, Manimon's eyes flickered open. His eyes were blurry, and his body ached, but he otherwise was conscious. The lighting in the ward was dimmed down, and he could barely see the clock above his bed, but it was reading as 7pm. The rabbit digimon jumped up in surprise, almost hitting his head on the bed's headboard, before he finally noticed something, or rather, someone, staring at him from the foot of his bed... and it wasn't Joey.<p>

The person who had been watching him suddenly ducked down the end of the bed to hide, but Manimon hurriedly scuttled down to the end on all fours, leaning over the side.

"H-Hey! Who are you? Why were you watching me sleep?" he growled, causing the stranger, a young teen, to shiver slightly.

"I wanted to keep watch since the nurses are busy elsewhere..." the kid replied, wrapping his (or her? it was impossible for Manimon to tell) arms around his legs, resting his chin on his knees. Manimon slid down off the bed and came to sit in-front of the stranger.

"That doesn't tell me who you are, though." Manimon questioned, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. Kids were not allowed in the building, and how this one got in was a surprise. Manimon took in his supposed-visitor's details, and seemed genuinely surprised. The teen was wearing a loose-fitting white shirt that seemed to hang off one shoulder, and black shorts... and was otherwise completely barefoot.

Manimon couldn't make out his eyes, because his pale blue hair completely covered the top half of his face. The rabbit wondered perhaps if this was some kind of waif fresh in from the streets, and rubbed his chin in deep thought.

On not receiving any response from his enquiry, he tried again. "...you got a name, then, kiddo?"

"Nope." the teen responded, peering down at he and Manimon's feet. Manimon almost fell onto his back from the answer.

"Hah I see how it is, you're just playing about. Really, what's your name?" he repeated, tapping his foot impatiently. He was in no mood for any games, and he wanted answers over who this weirdo was and why he was in the building, watching delicate princely rabbits sleeping away like sleeping beauty.

"I don't have a name." the kid answered again, shifting slightly in his seat. Manimon swallowed, feeling himself getting flustered and worked up.

"Surely you have a name! Every human is given a name from birth by their parents, or something!" Manimon cried, before suddenly shaking his head. "Whatever, if you don't have a name, then I'm just plain calling you Kid, got it?"

The newly dubbed Kid nodded his head in acceptance, and Manimon continued his interrogation. "Where are you from, why are you here, where do you live? I want answers, bucko! Kids ain't supposed to be in the building!"

"I came from here, and I live here... but I don't know why I'm here." Kid replied, smiling slightly. Manimon felt his heartbeat quicken... something seemed weird about this boy (or girl) and it was very off-putting, from the vague and mysterious answers right down to strange hobo-fashion going on, and Manimon didn't like it, but before he could continue, Kid spoke up.

"You've been out for hours and hours... a man with glasses kept coming by to check on you a lot. Is he your friend?" Kid asked, shifting into a cross-legged position, his hands fidgeting with the hem of his baggy shirt.

"He's my tamer. I'm his digimon... wait, don't tell me you know what a digimon is?" Manimon yelped. He sometimes forgot that he himself was a digimon, and that the public was not supposed to know they were real, and here he was, having lost himself completely in conversation with a supposed member of the public.

"He-he, you're cute when you get jumpy... and yeah, I know what digimon are." Kid said, still fiddling away. "What's a tamer?"

"A tamer is a human who looks after us, who we fight for and protect, and who give us their power to reach stronger forms." Manimon explained, before deciding to show off a little, "I already digivolved to my next form! I'm just that amazing, you know?"

"I see..." Kid responded thoughtfully, before standing up. "Okay then, mr. amazing bunny... let's go out. You're better now, right?"

Manimon squealed and hopped from one foot-paw to the other, shaking his fists.

"Show some respect! It's Manimon, not bunny, no matter how amazing I am!"

Kid headed off to the door and peered out cautiously, as if fearing being caught, which had Manimon back on the alert again. He hopped over and tugged on Kid's shirt gently to get his attention.

"How can you live here? Who do you even live with, anyway?" Manimon asked, before Kid picked him up. He'd normally have complained about being handled by strangers he hadn't given permission to, but he was too surprised by suddenly being whisked off to start shooting his mouth off.

"I've always lived here... by myself." Kid replied, holding Manimon in his arms. His bare feet made no sound as they headed down corridors, heading towards the empty cafeteria. Everyone by this point had clocked off and gone home, except for some people working late, like Joey and the night security guards.

"That doesn't tell me anything. How old are you, anyway? Why would people let you stay here?" Manimon asked, after being set down on a table-top. He sat on the edge and swung his feet a little, keeping his eyes fixed on his strange companion.

"I don't know how." Kid replied vaguely again, which Manimon tried very hard not to get frustrated over. "Hal lives here, though. He never leaves the building, ever."

Manimon suddenly sat up straight, looking very interested, especially since Joey was trying to do research on Hal and Arch Angel for the sake of finding out more about his grandfather.

"You know Hal? As in Hal Becker, boss of this very company?" the small rabbit said, clasping his paws together in his lap nervously, "What do you know? How much do you know? HOW do you know? Are you his kid, or something?"

Kid went over to the vending machine and tapped something in, and mysteriously, even without inputting any money, a can of cola dropped out of the machine. Sitting opposite, he struggled to open the can, which Manimon helped him with, and then let Manimon have the cola for himself, even though seeing him 'steal' the cola from the machine was only giving him more questions to ask Kid.

"I know about Hal, but... not enough. I really want him to notice me..." Kid sighed, resting his chin on the back of his hand. "He's very busy with something right now."

"Busy with what?" Manimon asked, wondering if Kid knew, and if he did, if he'd give him a straight answer, but unfortunately for the digimon, the teen didn't seem to know.

"I don't know what it is, but whatever it is he's doing, it takes up all of his time. That's why he never leaves the building. He's very focused on whatever is keeping him busy."

Manimon finished drinking, and offered Kid the can, but the teen declined. Manimon was trying not to press too hard for answers, but the more he heard, the less everything made sense.

"Alright, let me get this straight, from the beginning... you didn't have a name until we agreed on Kid, you don't know how old you are, you're 'from here' or 'live here', you don't know why you're here, though, and you knew what digimon are but not tamers, and you know about Hal and sound like you want him to pay attention to you, but you're not his kid..." Manimon voiced aloud, pacing back and forth down the table, as Kid watched. "what else could there possibly be?"

"This is my first time coming to this floor." Kid added, "I've never seen the outside world, or left the building, either... actually, before I saw you, I was hiding in the bed-place because I was trying to see what the world looked like."

"excuse me..." Manimon panted, fearing he was about to pass out again from this new revelation. "excuse me... mind is officially BLOWN... are you some kind of alien? child slave? child experiment?"

Kid's response really did knock Manimon off the table, however.

"oh! I think so?" the boy (or girl) replied in response to Manimon's assumptions, "but I don't know... I hardly know anything about myself."

Manimon clambered up onto the table looking angry, now, and Kid seemed to shrink back fearfully, but Manimon was too incensed to hold back at this point.

"How can you not? You look about 14, how can you not know yourself?" the rabbit digimon demanded, marching right up to Kid and yanking on his shirt, so that they stared at one another face to face. Kid's bottom lip was trembling, and tears began to slide down his cheeks from his fearful eyes, hidden behind his bushy mane of hair. On seeing this, Manimon felt a pang of guilt... he hadn't realized just how scary and confusing this all was, not just to him, but to Kid, as well.

"I'm sorry... I tried not to get upset... I don't even have _memories..._" Kid sobbed, wiping his arm across his face. Manimon bit his lip in silence. Not even memories...? Something was definitely up with this kid, and the whole company. He suspected child experimentation, and he definitely intended to talk to Joey about this when he could.

"Memories... well... let's make some, OK?" Manimon said, after a short silence, "you and me, let's go out and have a great time some time, and we'll make lots of great memories together, got it?"

"...Really?" Kid asked, after drying his eyes, "I just want to go outside, and see what the world is like... they won't let any of us out..."

Manimon bit his lip, what did he mean by 'us'? He had a strange sinking feeling in his gut that Arch Angel was doing something very big, here.

"'Us?' There's more of you?" Manimon inquired, but before he could get a response, Joey entered the canteen, his bag slung over his shoulder, ready to leave.

"Manimon, how long have you been awake for-" Joey started, before he noticed Kid. He and Kid stared at each other, before Kid hurriedly got to his feet and started running back for the corridors again. Joey and Manimon hurriedly gave pursuit "Hey, wait!"

However, Kid turned a down a corridor, and this is where the pair lost him. Staring in disbelief, it was almost like the teen had just vanished into thin air.

* * *

><p>Manimon spent the rest of the time explaining to Joey what had happened, and everything he'd discussed with Kid, as the pair headed off. Joey had alerted security, even though Manimon had secretly been against this decision, for a reason he couldn't explain. He didn't think Kid was lying, or posing a threat to the security of the building in any way, but Joey's morals had won over in the end.<p>

"So you think he's an experiment, like a test-tube clone baby or something, then?" Joey asked Manimon quietly on the train home. The carriage was empty, so Manimon was sitting on the seat opposite of his.

"I don't know, Joe. After he disappeared down that corridor, he could've been a ghost for all I know... but Hal is definitely working on something big. Kid even said he was so busy he never left the building... he must live there, right?" Manimon replied.

"I don't want to think about what it is, but we'll need to find a way of getting more information... first, people start going missing, and now some science-ghost-child or whatever is running around in the building." Joey sighed. He felt uneasy, like something big and terrible was in-store for them in future. Nothing made sense, nor did it add up, the whole thing had no connection, either.

Joey could already feel another headache coming on. Today had just been one of those spectacularly mind-blowing days where the gift just kept on giving in the form of more mysteries and stress.

* * *

><p>Skye opened the door to the vast computer room, carrying in a tray of drinks and biscuits for herself and Seth, her brother. He was sat before a gigantic screen almost taking up the entire wall, which was broken up into smaller screens showing various things going on in them.<p>

"Monitoring Arch Angel again?" Skye asked, setting the tray down on a small desk by the monitors. Seth reached for a biscuit and nodded.

"Hal's been up to something lately. I saw him head out with two of his goons downstairs, I was lucky I could hack the CCTV down there, the whole thing is a lot harder to get into on that level." he replied in a tired sounding voice. He'd been up at the crack of dawn, surveying things.

"What do you think it is he's working on?" Skye asked, taking a seat by his side. She took a sip from her drink and looked through the screens.

"No idea, there's no way of getting into that room because there's no cameras in there, and I'm assuming the computers they're using in there are stand-alone ones not connected to the company network, because I've not found anyway of accessing. Everything in there is being kept off-limits from everything else." he grumbled, eating a second biscuit frustratedly.

For a while, neither of them said anything, just watching through the CCTV at some of the night security going on patrol, all of them seemingly on alert for something. Hal had retreated to his office, and hadn't come out since, so whether he was aware of the problems currently going down was a mystery, but he was so disconnected from the rest of the employees, the pair wondered if he even cared.

But movement on one of the corridor cameras caught their eyes; two Agents were dashing past frantically, guns at the ready.

"Hold up, why are they running? It's like they're chasing something that isn't there." Seth said, with his mouth half-full of biscuit.

They watched as Agent L and Agent B made a sudden sharp turn down another corridor. A pipe had sprung a leak earlier in the day and had a sign cautioning of the wet floor beneath until a plumber could be called in to fix it, and Seth and Skye both sat up straight and took notice as several strange 'splashes' through the puddle occurred, before the Agents finally came into view and ran after whatever invisible 'thing' had made those splashes.

"D-Did you get that on a recording?" Skye asked her brother nervously, watching the screen with wide eyes.

"Damn right I did..." Seth murmured, narrowing his eyes. "Well damn, that's one more thing we've got to keep a track of. Some ghost running around Arch Angel. First that rabbit digimon was acting weird in the canteen, talking to himself, and then some guy with glasses come in and they run down a corridor, too."

"What if they'd seen the ghost, too?" Skye asked nervously, fidgeting away. She believed in the paranormal, but Seth seemed less than impressed.

"You seriously believed it? It's probably a tamerless-digimon that escaped from one of the labs... maybe a chameleon or camouflager or something." Seth replied indignantly, folding his arms. "Anyway, you can check through the recordings in the morning. I'm heading home, it's damn cold in here."

They finished up their snacks and drinks, and Seth put the massive computer into sleep mode whilst the recordings continued. The pair headed out of their hide-out, into the pitch blackness of the 'underworld' beneath Neo Tokyo, where the sun never shone, the stars never shined, and the wind never blew.

Seth in particular had enough problems with Arch Angel without needing to start looking into apparent hauntings, even if they'd both just witnessed one.


	6. Sound of the Underground

Episode 6. Sound of the Underground

* * *

><p>The sun was setting, vanishing down behind the seemingly endless cityscape of Neo Tokyo, and leaving everything bathed in a warm orange glow. That evening had clear, cloudless skies, and seemed otherwise very quiet, up on the big hill of one of the numerous artificial parks, Kobayashi Park, which was named after New Japan's current prime minister.<p>

Amy pulled her coat around herself a little tighter, and checked her watch to be sure of the time. It was currently ten to six, almost time for Barghestmon's training. Joey was sitting up ahead on a bench, reading a book to pass the time, and Manimon and Laelapmon were currently playfully chasing each other about through some trees nearby, which Amy smiled and took a quick snapshot of with her camera.

She'd brought her camera out to grab some images for her journalism project back home, and the hill had certainly delivered many great shots of the city, which pleased her. Joey had pointed out a number of great things, too, though he hadn't been as keen in traipsing any further up the steep hillsides.

Joey had made sure to bring out flashlights, because he felt certain it'd have long-grown dark before the training finished, since Barghestmon had seemed to choose a time when few would venture up this far, for privacy's sake.

"Well, it's almost time," Amy called, heading over and taking a seat beside Joey, stretching her arms and legs as she reclined back against the bench seating. "You've been looking forward to this for a while, huh?"

Joey caught Amy grinning cheekily at him, since he wasn't the sort that usually got impatient for something, but this had been perhaps that 'one exception' - that, and he really did want to see if Barghestmon's training would prove beneficial... he did have his doubts.

"Yes, well. It's about time, eh? We've been waiting for this moment since defeating Centimon, and I still don't understand his 'schedule'. How can a digimon be busy? It's not like he has work to do!" Joey sighed, though the idea of Barghestmon wearing a smart tie and sitting at a giant office desk did make him smile.

"He probably does a lot more than he lets on." Laelapmon chimed in, as she and Manimon headed over from the trees. They were both slightly scuffed up from a minor play-wrestling moment in some bushes, and Amy helped brush some stray leaves out of her partner's ears.

"Probably," Joey replied, putting his book back into his bag. "But he's often very vague. I guess I just don't like being left in the dark."

Amy peered down at her watch again; it was now five minutes to six. Manimon heaved himself up with a grunt to sit in-between her and Joey, and then laid himself flat across Joey's lap expectantly.

"How's about a tummy-rub for the champ in training, eh? We did the warm-up like you guys told us to, so how's about a massage, lenses?" he grinned, folding his arms behind his head, staring up at his partner inquisitively.

Joey gently took ahold of Manimon's ears, and like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a top hat, pulled him into a sitting position and nudged him to one side, grinning back at him.

"Don't get too comfy, he'll be here soon. If he can keep his word," Joey sighed, staring out at the trees before them, which started off dense but then got slightly more sparse, with several clearings further in.

Something big and black could be seen moving towards them through the trees, before the tell-tale glow of red eyes pierced through the dark foliage of the cluster of trees. Barghestmon's arrival (which, as Amy checked, was dead on six pm) had everyone hurriedly get to their feet in greeting.

"I see we are all here," Barghestmon commented, glancing at each of them in turn in approval. "Very good. I think I'll start you off with one-on-one training, first. You'll both take turns against me in your training... understood?"

Both tamers and their digimon alike glanced at one another nervously. Two rookies against a champion hardly seemed fair, but Barghestmon must have had some sort of plan. Everyone nodded or muttered some form of acceptance to this, and the big black dog began to lead them off through the trees towards one of the clearings.

"If we train here, we'll have more privacy. I doubt anyone will come through here now- it's getting dark," Barghestmon commented, looking around the clearing. "Manimon, you and I will go first. I believe you struggle with speed, correct?"

"Y-Yeah, I do. What of it?" Manimon murmured, folding his arms defensively. He didn't like the look Barghestmon was giving him, with his narrowed red eyes fixed firmly on his, which caused Manimon to instinctively take a step back.

"Here's your first test: escape from me to the other end of the forest, or I'll bite you."

The snarl that escaped Barghestmon's suddenly-bared teeth had everyone jump, but none more so than Manimon, whose ears and fur stood on end all over his body. Without thinking, he began sprinting off as fast as he could without looking where he was going, Barghestmon's heavy footfalls behind him the only indication that the big black dog was close behind him, and hot on his heels, where he dared not look behind him.

Several times, Barghestmon's jaws came terrifyingly close to clipping at his heels, and Manimon squealed loudly, his eyes wide with panic. It didn't matter which way he turned, Barghestmon was always baring down on him.

Eventually, Manimon grew so lost in his panic that he tripped and fell over a tree root, sliding through dirt and fallen leaves until he bashed into a tree. Rubbing his eyes, he blinked up at Barghestmon's face, which was inches now from his own, and trembled visibly. However, the big dog merely sniffed and pulled back.

"Game over. I give that zero out of five. Not even an A for effort."

The others came dashing breathlessly up from behind the pair, looking worried- especially Joey, who ran up and knelt besides his trembling rabbit digimon, and began massaging his ears to soothe his nerves.

"What the hell kind of training was that?" Joey snapped, glaring over his glasses at their 'mentor' figure, still comforting Manimon, whose trembling and quivering was thankfully growing less, though he was still breathless.

"The sort he needs to overcome if he aims to protect both you and himself," the big dog replied nonchalantly, "The whole point of this training is to take it seriously. If he'd made this mistake against an enemy, maybe one even at a level higher than myself, he would have been finished off."

The others said nothing, and hung their heads. Barghestmon was completely serious about this, not a shred of humour in his expression or tone. Everyone realized this would not be as easy as they thought, with Barghestmon treating this so seriously.

"I'll go next..." Laelapmon spoke up, after the mood had set back into place. Amy nodded quietly, and stood by Joey's side anxiously. Joey wiped off his glasses, and placed his hand reassuringly onto her shoulder, his other still stroking Manimon's head between his ears, his rabbit partner leaning against his leg nervously.

"Same as before, you are to escape to the other end of the forest; if I catch you, I will bite you. Do you understand?" he asked her, lowering his head enough to meet her gaze, eye-to-eye.

"I understand," the smaller dog responded, stepping up. Amy bit her lip nervously, but made no move to stop her, instead coming forward just as her partner had done.

"...I know you can do it, Laelapmon. Just focus. Alright?" she murmured, kneeling down in-front of her digimon, and stroking Laelapmon's ears. This is what everyone had agreed to, and even if Barghestmon's training was... not what they had been expecting, he must have deeper reasons, though his point had already been made, Amy suspected that there was a more underlying issue.

Both dog digimon - one big, strong and black, the other, small, meek and white - stared each-other down as Laelapmon readied herself. She tensed up slightly, bracing herself to get ready to run.

"Start running... _now,_" Barghestmon snarled, breaking the short silence that had fallen over the clearing.

Laelapmon needed no further encouragement- she had already taken off as fast as her smaller legs would carry her. She focused on keeping to places clear of branches or bushes, trying to avoid anything that would slow her down, with Amy calling encouragement after her. She could feel, let alone hear, Barghestmon's heavy paws thumping against the ground in his pursuit of her.

Several times, Barghestmon's teeth nearly grazed at her tail, which was streaming behind her like a banner. She yelped and briefly lost focus, and he nearly wound up running over her small body, causing her to lunge forward in desperation. Something stirred inside her, and she found herself calling on her wind powers to push herself forward, to the point it felt like she was almost becoming one with the wind itself.

The white dog digimon could finally see the end coming up, the light of the sunset shining out like an orange beacon, guiding her forward. She was almost there, and the sound of Barghestmon's paws beating down against the ground weren't as close as before, and Amy had fallen so far back Laelapmon had to strain to hear her partner's voice echoing after them through the trees.

She paused, slowing down to a trot, daring to look over her shoulder as she began heading out of the trees... and this cost her. Barghestmon seemed to appear out of nowhere, completely blind-siding her with a swipe of one of his big paws, sending her skidding sideways through the grass and dirt, a look of shock and disbelief frozen on her face.

Amy dashed past as fast as she could, and scooped Laelapmon up into her arms protectively, checking her over worriedly, though thankfully aside from shock and dizziness, the puppy digimon seemed fine.

"Don't grow complacent just because you neared the goal." Barghestmon spoke as he approached the pair, "don't slow down, and don't look back. You did so well, up until that point where you grew too sure of yourself. Be more alert next time, Laelapmon."

Laelapmon hung her head in shame. She HAD felt sure of herself, she had felt too confident that she would reach her goal, and show... perhaps even impress... her mentor figure. It was one mistake, but she felt as if she had let everyone down, especially Amy and Barghestmon.

Amy stroked her long ears soothingly, and sighed. There was so much she wanted to say, and Barghestmon could sense it. She wanted to berate him for this, for knocking Laelapmon's confidence, but she knew deep down this would have been a silly move. He meant well, surely, even if this training was not what everyone expected.

"Take a break, collect yourselves. When you are rested, we will continue until both Laelapmon and Manimon complete their training to satisfaction," Barghestmon called to the four over his shoulder, as he trotted off into the thicket for a bit.

Amy dropped to her knees, still holding Laelapmon. She felt exhausted just looking at the state Manimon was in as Joey carried him over. His nerves had mostly settled down, but his long ears, which he normally held erect, were pinned right back, where he too felt ashamed of himself.

They all sat in silence on the grass, the evening breeze growing all the more chilly. Laelapmon was still trying to peer into the darkening forest shade, trying to spot Barghestmon, but she couldn't make him out at all. Manimon avoided Joey and Amy's gaze. He'd really made an idiot of himself, and it made him think back to the fight against the agents.

He hadn't had time to feel sorry for himself when he'd come to, because Kid's appearance in the ward had distracted him from those things, and he'd managed not to think about his crushing defeat up until now, to spare his dignity. But what dignity was there left to spare? He'd run in cowardice from the one supposedly meant to be his teacher. Even a newbie like Laelapmon had faired slightly better.

"Manimon... you're too hot-headed, and proud." Joey said after a while. He noticed Manimon was still refusing to look up, so he turned him around in his lap, and lifted his chin. "You don't need to prove yourself to anyone- not me, not Amy, not Barghestmon. What you need to do is focus. Do you understand?"

Manimon bit his lip. Oh, he understood alright, but he didn't want to admit to it. Yes, he was hot-headed, and proud, and he needed to focus... but he didn't like this. He didn't like feeling like he was no good, or that Joey wasn't proud of him. Laelapmon gave him a sympathetic look from her spot in Amy's arms. She knew that feeling all too well, herself.

Since her problem of not being able to digivolve, she'd felt utterly useless. It was the most horrid feeling she'd ever experienced, and it often ate away at her, especially at night. She knew a lot of nights, Amy would lay awake, staring at the ceiling, just waiting until exhaustion caused her to sleep, because her thoughts were going everywhere, and it all bothered Laelapmon.

She felt she wasn't making Amy happy, wasn't taking her mind off things that were upsetting her, and wasn't helping the rest of their new team. Biting her lip, she tried not to keep thinking about it, but it was impossible. It was hopeless... just like her...

"Laelapmon?" Amy murmured, staring down at her. She felt a sinking feeling in her gut, that something was wrong, and she was right. Gently, she stroked the tip of her thumb just under Laelapmon's eye, brushing tears that were building up under them, but tears kept building up, until they spilled down her soft white cheeks.

"I... I'm useless to you, Amy..." Laelapmon muttered, her voice wracked with emotion. "I'm... no good... to you, or Joey... I can't digivolve... I messed up... I keep getting myself hurt, and being unable to protect you... I can't even make you happy, when you need it the most..."

Amy was taken aback. She bit her lip, unsure where to look. She wanted to look Laelapmon in the eyes, and assure her that was not the case, but the more she looked at the utterly heart-rending look in Laelapmon's eyes, the more she felt herself starting to get emotional too- not that it wasn't already happening.

Already, she could feel her arms shaking, and it wasn't from the cold air. Joey was trying to be polite and not look or listen in, and it was clear he wanted to say something, but felt it wasn't his place, or was maybe unsure. Manimon was staring at Laelapmon in dismay. All today had served to do was crush both digimon's spirits, and break Amy's heart.

"I know... I know about him... about Hiro..." Laelapmon continued, beginning to sob, "it's clear as day how you feel, how much it hurts... and it hurts me, too, to know you're in so much pain inside... and nothing I can do can take that away, or change what happened, or make things better..."

Amy hadn't realized she was crying, herself, until she felt the breeze flow past her wet cheeks. She couldn't believe now, of all times and places, they were having this conversation... over him, now. And she hadn't once considered Laelapmon's feelings on this. She'd known Laelapmon was worried, but not THIS worried.

She hadn't realized that by allowing herself to be gripped and dragged down to some dark place in her mind by her grief, she was dragging her partner down, too, and this was the consequence she had to face, even if it hurt, even if she wished she didn't have to hear it, this was what she had to take in.

"L... Lae..." Amy started, shaking all over, her voice wavering audibly. She lifted Laelapmon up more, resting her forehead against her partner's. She was a mix of emotions, frustration, sadness, grief, and shame, that Joey and Manimon had to witness this going on, but she no longer felt she could hold back.

"Laelapmon... what happened to him... was not your fault... it wasn't anybody's fault..." she sighed, more tears flowing down her cheeks, as Laelapmon slipped her eyes closed, hiccuping slightly from her own crying.

"I'm sorry... that I haven't been as supportive of you, as you've been of me... I know how much you worry, now... and I never really said to you, personally, just how grateful I am that you even exist..." she continued, cradling Laelapmon's body in her arms, "I don't mean for everything to get on top of me, and drag me down... I can't promise I can shake this feeling off... but..."

She paused, wiping her eyes, and lifting Laelapmon's chin up.

"I don't like seeing you sad, either... it hurts me, to know that I've given you reason to cry, and worry about me like this... I will try so hard to be stronger, just as much as you're trying now..." she murmured, giving Laelapmon's forehead a soft kiss. "You made one mistake, but that's okay. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is perfect. We all make mistakes and accidents... we all have off-days, and feel sad... but strength is having the ability to go on, even when faced with these things, okay...?"

"O-Okay..." Laelapmon sniffed, resting her head against Amy's chest, reaching one of her paws up to brush away her own tears.

"So... please don't say you feel useless, or worthless, or that you're no good, any more, Laelapmon..." Amy continued, "because not once, ever, have I ever felt that about you... I love you. You're very special to me. Alright?"

Amy jumped slightly when she felt Joey suddenly lay his coat over her shoulders, where she was still shivering. She blinked up at him, and then seemed to remember the reason everyone was here, and that he'd heard everything. She hurriedly got up and dusted herself down, looking away from him, though she did keep his coat over her.

"Maybe we should talk, ourselves, when we get home later..." he whispered to her, feeling perhaps now was as good a time as any to let her get Hiro's condition off her chest. She nodded, and he took note that she seemed a little uncomfortable, but that was to be expected. This had not been the best way to bring Hiro out into the open. "That's if you want to, of course..."

"Y-Yeah..." she replied back quietly, standing by his side, as Barghestmon seemed to be coming back out towards them. She tried to look more alert and attentive, even though her face was tear-stained.

Manimon bit his lip, and chanced reaching out to rest his paw on Laelapmon's shoulder. She jumped slightly, but then glanced at him out of the corner of her eyes, but then seemed to look back down at the grass. She still couldn't face the others, it seemed.

"Let's keep trying, Laelapmon." he murmured to her quietly, getting up. "Let's not give in to bad feelings... we have to keep going."

She nodded half-heartedly in response, and stood up, forcing herself to raise her head to meet Barghestmon's gaze. His stern red eyes seemed to narrow just briefly, as he looked her over. He'd seen from their body language that something had come up, but he wasn't going to halt their training, he'd decided.

"Are you ready to continue?" he asked them flatly, stepping back slightly. "We'll keep going until you succeed, no matter how long it takes. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" Manimon saluted up at him, feeling a lot more confident. Fangs or no fangs, he wasn't going to let Barghestmon scare him about any-more. Looking at Laelapmon out of the corner of his eye, he gently nudged her paw with his foot.

"O-Oh! Yes, sir..." Laelapmon mumbled on being prompted to affirm her agreement to Barghestmon's order, and shook her head to bring herself more into focus.

Amy and Joey always ran with their digimon, to the best of their abilities, though always lagged back due to the digimon trio's superior speeds compared to their own. This continued until both humans could run no longer. Eventually, after several repeated attempts of clearing the forest, both digimon finally accomplished what Barghestmon expected of them, and to be sure they had got it ingrained into memory, made them repeat it another three times.

During another short rest, Barghestmon came forward and proposed his next step in the training, What he suggested did not please the four before him.

"Physical training, next. I want to test Laelapmon and Manimon's limits in how well they can defend you. Some digimon use the tactic of going for the tamer first, since your power supplies your partners with the ability to digivolve, and that means you will always have some advantage over them," the big dog stated, looking from one grim face to the other.

Joey pushed his glasses up his nose from where they'd slipped down a little, before speaking up, "and what does the physical training entail exactly?"

"You and Amy are to run, run like your lives depend upon it. I will be aiming all my attacks at you both. Manimon and Laelapmon are to act as your shields, and defend you from harm, and fight back," he responded, his red eyes seem to glow under the darkness setting over them all.

Amy and Joey both froze up as he said this, with Amy nervously leaning in to take hold of Joey's arm. What- did he expect two small rookies to achieve, fighting against himself, at the champion level, when he was obviously more experienced? This was cruel, and grossly unfair on the four. Both tamers felt whatever reasons the big dog had for this training couldn't possibly be valid ones.

"I object to this, Barghestmon!" Joey snapped, stepping forward suddenly. He was furious. How could he dare to even suggest something so outlandish? "I refuse to participate in this scheme of yours, and I'm sure Amy does, too!"

"This is the consequence of accepting a partner," Barghestmon retorted, padding forward. He lowered his head down, bringing himself face to face with the angered fair-haired office-worker. "This is the risk you take. Do you honestly think keeping this city safe will be as easy as just sending your partners out to battle, and expect nothing to happen to you, too? You must be alert, Joey. You must think on your feet, and be able to take care of yourselves, too. What use are either of you to your partners, held captive, incapacitated, or worse?"

Joey was shaking slightly from anger. Barghestmon had always frustrated him in some ways, with his vagueness, and constantly keeping everyone in the dark about everything, considering his grandfather's disappearance had been kept in the dark from him by both his family and his work place, he loathed people keeping secrets from him.

And he was growing further frustrated how Barghestmon had managed to make a valid point, too.

"This is a double-edged sword you both wield," Barghestmon continued, "especially if you truly wish to help, you must risk your lives for this cause. This is not some childish game, or a cartoon on TV... there are no extra continues, there is no 'see you next week' if something goes wrong. This training is for the benefit of you all, and like it or lump it, this will serve to show you just what is expected of you both as tamers."

* * *

><p>Amy and Joey had never ran so fast in all their lives. Their chests hurt terribly, and they were both out of breath, but still running as fast as their legs would carry them. The tell-tale black and red flames from Barghestmon's attack glowed eerily after them, wrapping around trees without setting the foliage on fire, but the heat they could feel from the searing flames assuring that if it reached them, they would not be so lucky.<p>

"G-Gale Blade!" Laelapmon cried, summoning all her usual wind-based daggers together to form a small sword, which was just longer than the length of her body. Biting onto the hilt, she slashed at the flames, gusts of wind streaming from the blade with every movement, and managing to rend most of the flames away from Amy and Joey.

"Moon Fire!" Manimon yelled, bursts of his white fire shot back and exploding apart on contact with the black and red flames, which seemed to halt the spectral fire's progress from getting any closer.

Just as Amy and Joey paused to catch their breath in the darkened woods now, their torches barely illuminating the inky blackness, there came the noisy jangling of chains all about them.

Chains like the ones around Barghestmon's neck seemed to spread and wrap around every tree surrounding them, like a web, trapping them in a strange and terrifying cage.

The spectral flames began to lick across the chains, forcing both humans back, their digimon almost backing into them.

"Stop it!" Joey yelled, above the roar of the fire, putting a protective arm around Amy, "This is enough!"

Manimon spat off to the side wearily, rubbing his arm. He'd scraped past a tree earlier, trying to keep up with the human pair, and had caught his arm on a low branch. The gash was still bleeding slightly, and stung badly, but he refused to stand down. "Bring it on, Barghestmon. I'M not done, yet!"

Barghestmon materialized into their makeshift arena, a smile forming on his dark-furred face. He circled them, in a slow, deliberate way, looking them all over, surveying the wear and tear everyone had accumulated during this dangerous game of tag.

"Do not give up now; if you allow yourself to feel trapped, then you've already given up. As long as you can fight, there is always a chance of victory!" he barked, beginning to move in close, "You have all done well to endure for this long. But it's not over yet... PHANTOM HOWL!"

The ghostly howl the big dog emitted sent out a pulse of energy, which hit Manimon like the force of an oncoming car, blasting him backwards head-over-heels through the air into the burning chains. He screamed in agony, as the flames singed and burnt at his body, causing further pain to his already wounded arm.

"Gale Blade!" Laelapmon shrieked, jumping past Joey who was hurriedly running over to get to Manimon. Her blade sliced at Barghestmon's chest, and he leapt back, the tip of the sword grazing through his thick chest fur, and drawing blood from a thin slash mark across his chest.

Grunting, he raised up one of his heavy paws, and brought it down hard on Laelapmon's body, his thick red claws gripping into her. His paw was bigger than her entire chest, and he was forcing a lot of his weight down onto that one paw.

"A-Agh...!" she gasped sharply, her small paws clinging to his, trying to force him off. Her head was throbbing and aching, and her vision was beginning to swim, where he was cutting off her air.

The big black dog's gleaming red eyes narrowed darkly, as he leaned forward bringing his face close to hers, his voice low and serious, "I am not convinced... of Manimon, I am sure of his courage... but you are holding back. Why?"

"I..." she sobbed, her entire body wracked with pain. She could barely make his face out, save for the fierce glow from his eyes piercing through the blurriness of her dimming vision. "I'm... not worthy... I'm no good... and I don't... want to hurt you..."

"Lies," he murmured, shaking his great head. Amy was behind him, trying to tug at his back leg, to force him off of her, but to no avail. His great tail swept her back, but she kept trying, shrieking at him to get off, between calling to Laelapmon to keep trying. "Do you not hear her? She wants you to keep going... as do I. You have so much potential, and you are wasting it, by not resisting..."

Laelapmon whined, crying out in pain as he applied more pressure onto her. His expression grew solemn, and concerned, before he spoke again.

"There was a time when I was in the same position as you..." he murmured, into one of her ears, his grip on her no less painful. "But if you will not fight for yourself, if you will not cling to life for yourself... then fight for her. Do not question your worth... the safety of the one you love is your true priority, Laelapmon... and if you do not realize this and fight back properly, I will bite Amy."

Laelapmon's eyes widened in horror at his threat. Whether he was seriously threatening Amy's life, or whether he was just trying to coax her to fight back, he got the result he'd hoped for- she found herself sinking her fangs into his paw, biting down as hard as she could, until the tang of his blood was on her tongue.

Finally, his paw withdrew sharply back, as well as a short snarl of pain from his jaws. A white burst of flame from Manimon, who was finally back up on his feet forced Barghestmon backwards, before he submit to the pair. All at once, the flames subsided around them, and the chains shattered apart into data, that faded off into the night sky.

Amy rushed to Laelapmon's side, hurriedly holding her up in her arms. She massaged Laelapmon's sore chest carefully as the small white dog took slow, deep breaths from where it still felt like she had a weight on her chest. Joey and Manimon stood just in-front of them, defensively, with Joey keeping his eye on Manimon, who was still a little unsteady on his feet.

Barghestmon was panting, and at first, they thought he was tired... but on second glance, they noticed a big smile on his face, and seemingly the foreboding, sinister air about him had vanished and been replaced, almost like he was a regular dog.

"Excellent. Maybe you don't see it right now, but you've done something most normal humans have never experienced, and hopefully never will with you defending the city," he spoke, his voice sounding full of praise, "As much as you all doubted yourself, you've proved to me you have what it takes. The drive to keep going, despite fear, despite being antagonized and hunted down by something twice your size and power, everyone kept going. This is the drive of the human spirit, and the bond between you as partners. A little sloppy perhaps, from this first session, but otherwise... I am impressed."

It took a while for his words to sink in, but eventually, everyone understood. They had been put through a tough endurance test, all together, and despite doubting themselves, despite their fears and worries, they had pulled through. They had survived an ordeal that was beyond what the normal people of everyday life, who had no idea Digimon were real, could comprehend.

The human pair digitized their digimon back into their D-Drives in silence, still trying to calm down from the tense battle, and take everything in. Barghestmon remained where he was, sprawled out on the grass, licking his paw where Laelapmon had bitten him, still looking pleased.

"Barghestmon..." Amy started, coming over to stand before him, her arms wrapped around herself nervously. Something had been bothering her, from the things he'd said. "I... there's something I've wondered, about you... how you encouraged everyone to keep going... how relentless you were... it's almost like, well..."

Barghestmon watched her carefully, his red eyes staring into her own. Amy hadn't realized it, but behind the fierce red glow, there was something seemingly lingering in the back... a sense of guilt, and sorrow. Something on a level she felt she could identify with, and Joey too, if his frustration would permit it.

"It's almost like, something very bad happened to you, and this training was your way of making sure it didn't happen to us, too... All this urging us to keep going, to be more careful, to focus-"

She stopped, when she saw a change in his expression. As she had guessed, there was sadness in those red eyes of his, that became more apparent in her assumption if only for a moment, before his expression softened, and he managed a small smile back for her.

"Yes. I made many mistakes, in the past... I lost many friends, due to the virus..." he stated, bowing his head slightly. "All of us struggling together, to keep moving. For the longest time, I had to learn to sleep light, sleep with one eye open... there was no telling when one of them would turn, next. Many of my friends I eventually had to fight to the death... and they would continue to come back, more decayed in appearance, their sanity long gone. They were no longer friends, just shells of their former selves. In the end, I was left alone."

Amy and Joey didn't know what to say, as they heard him out, recalling back to his past, and the losses he had suffered at the effects of the virus. Joey's anger towards Barghestmon had seemed to have all but vanished now, as the big dog continued.

"I truly was in the same position as your digimon, in the end. My spirit was crushed, my hopes were low. I couldn't go on, any-more... all around me, my friends were being destroyed, both internally and literally. I had lost everything," he murmured, the red glow from his eyes dimming down slightly, "but the discovery of the human world, and humanity, kept me going. I needed to find out why this was happening, I wanted to aid those seeking to find the solution. Many of us believed humans would bring salvation to the Digital World, and we drew inspiration from you. Your world was brought to it's knees, shook down to the very foundations, and yet, you kept on going, kept building up towards the skies. Things are still hard, and progress has been slow for you as a race, but you kept going on. This is why your species thrives at the dominant race in this world."

"You kept going, for your friends, and your world..." Joey murmured in response to all of this, "How long... have you been alone?"

"For over five years, I have been travelling through Japan, from sky island to sky island, working on my own against the threat. I did not wish to bring any more pain and suffering on anyone else... I could have easily allied with the resistance, or surrendered myself to Arch Angel, but I want to keep neutral... I do not want to pick one side over the other, for personal reasons." He replied, getting to his feet. He shook himself down, and peered up at the moon rising high over their heads. "This old dog isn't averse to learning new tricks. I am sure fate meant for us to meet, and for you to take responsibility and team up with the other two. If you were to ask me, last year, if I would take on 'students' and train them, and help in the forming of a team, I wouldn't have been able to answer... but I am glad fate played out this way. I'm no longer alone... and neither are you two."

Both Amy and Joey nodded, and gave him space to let him pass through. Just as Barghestmon was about to take his leave, he stopped, looking back over his shoulder a little.

"I'm sorry for any negative feelings you had to suffer, tonight... but please trust in me, that I only want what is best for you both."

"You're forgiven," Joey called, after a short silence, stepping forward to place his hand against Barghestmon's side, and giving him a little pat."Just remember, we're a team, now... and that means you, too. It's alright to be more open with us, you know."

"When the time is right for me to divulge more to you, I will be sure to remember that, Joey," Barghestmon replied. Amy hurried forward and gave him a quick hug, before the big dog took off into the night.

* * *

><p>"Wow, Skyler's taking his time out there," Skye murmured, spinning around slightly on an old office chair.<p>

Most of the Resistance were gathered together in the run-down and fairly dilapidated building that Skye and her brother Seth called a home, but for many people living in the Underworld, this was the condition all the buildings were in; in ruins, foul, dank, dark and often cold with puddles of water everywhere.

An old industrial barrel was over just in the middle of the room, with a small fire burning away, this being the main source of warmth, so everyone was sitting around it on a mishmash of assorted seating, with their digimon by their sides.

Everyone was decked out in the thickest clothing they could find, just to stave off against the cold. Skye had her usual cat-earred hat on, and a black hoodie over her dress. Her brother was wearing his own hoodie, and a pair of black fingerless gloves and his combat jeans.

Neon was wearing a thick black sweater, and baggy jeans with her usual mismatched stripy stockings underneath to keep her legs warm.

And lastly, one of the quieter members, Sayo, was wearing a thick knitted sweater, but was still wearing her school skirt and knee-length socks, and was shivering more noticeably than the others in the chilly room.

"He's still doing patrol, then after that, he said he was bringing back pizza," Seth sighed, reclining back in his own seat, and stretching himself a little. "By time he gets back, it'll be cold, and we'll probably end up throwing it in the fire, because that's all it'll be fit for when he gets his sorry ass back here."

Neon was bottle-feeding Cheromon some water. The local water digimon had produced so much lately that she was able to bring several extra bottles back, so she was able to make sure Cheromon was properly hydrated. Her small partner cooed up at her, and clapped her hands gleefully.

"Cheromon'll eat cold pizza, won't you, sweetheart?" she grinned, tickling her chin. Cheromon nodded, and rubbed her empty little tummy in anticipation; she'd eat anything given to her, so long as it was edible.

"Sayo, you want some water?" Seth called over. He took a deep swig from his own bottle, then wiped around the rim of the bottle-neck clean, offering it out to her. Skye puffed up her cheeks and interrupted, just as he was doing this.

"Seth! That is so rude, don't offer someone a drink from a bottle you've just drank from!" Skye sighed, folding her arms. Seth poked his tongue out at her, where he was used to being nagged by his sister on a daily basis. Cadmemon yawned and rubbed against her tamer's leg, before she added her own response.

"Oh, I'm sure Sayo wouldn't mind, either way..." Cadmemon called out in an off-hand way, though she snuck the poor blonde a sly smirk. She knew better than anyone that Sayo would accept anything Seth gave to her, even if it was worthless, she would cherish it like her greatest treasure- because for the longest time since joining the resistance, Sayo had been crushing deeply on Seth, and it was rather obvious to everyone... except for Seth himself.

"I-I really don't mind!" Sayo piped up nervously from her own seat, growing very flustered. She didn't seem to realize Cadmemon knew the score where she was concerned, and it didn't help her own digimon partner, Tanukimon, was in leagues with the shadow fox.

"Well, here you go, then." Seth sighed nonchalantly, growing a fraction impatient with Skyler's lateness. He tilted his head a little in confusion, since Sayo seemed to be shyly trying to accept the bottle without touching his fingers, in an increasingly flustered fashion, which Cadmemon was almost busting her gut over.

"T-Thank you..." she replied in a quiet voice, unable to make eye-contact with him. She lifted the bottle to her lips, and just as she helped herself to a mouthful of the refreshing liquid, her devious partner had to spoil everything.

"Ooooh~ an indirect kiss~!" Tanukimon called up from her seat against one of Sayo's chair legs. That one comment had Sayo's poor face exploding into a bright shade of red... and had her spitting her mouthful of drink right out in Seth's face.

Seth was frozen on the spot, stunned, with water dripping down his face. His hair had gotten slightly wet, as had part of his hoodie. Neon had ignored this little mishap as though it were an everyday occurrence, and was busy bouncing Cheromon up and down on her knee. Skye, Tanukimon and Cadmemon, on the other hand, were laughing their heads off.

"Oh don't look so stung, Seth. Your face needed a wash, anyway." Skye smirked from her seat, but almost fell out when he made a sudden lunge for her, his face red with humiliation and rage.

"You little bitch, Skye! When I get my hands on you, I'm kicking your ass!"

Whilst Seth chased his twin sister around the fire as if they were playing a weird game of duck-duck-goose, Sayo buried her own burning red face in her hands from shame, wishing the ground would just swallow her up whole. Apart from Neon, nobody heard the knocking at the front door, which she got up to answer, still seemingly oblivious to the chaos unfurling out in the living room behind her.

"Jeez Louise, it was about time you got back, Skyler!" she called, pulling the door open, "everyone's starving, and Seth is trying to murder Sk-"

But the visitor at the door was not the one any of them had been expecting.

* * *

><p>Finally, Skyler was back. He'd flown on the back of his partner, WarHawkmon; after doing a long night patrol, he'd stopped off and used what little money he had from his part time job as an apprentice mechanic to treat the others to pizza that night, but he had something more important to report. Something weird had happened on his patrol.<p>

He banged on the door of Seth and Skye's place, which was situated up on a hill, far from the sea. In the distance, he could barely make out the night sky, and the sea. There was never any light down here, at least, not from the sun.

No stars, no sun, no moon.

Aside from the perpetual light from street lamps, every day was spent in an everlasting darkness.

"Yo, hurry up in there and answer the door, will ya? It's damn cold out here!" Skyler called, pulling his leather flight jacket around himself a little tighter. Chasemon – his small purple gargoyle-like digimon, who had de-digivolved from WarHawkmon - now stood at his side, anxiously twiddling his claws together patiently.

Finally, someone came to the door and answered, ushering him inside into the light and slightly warmer room. He passed the pizza box to Skye, who had been the one to see to the door. He pulled his flight goggles off and set them down to one side, as Chasemon scurried over to the fire with the other digimon, rubbing his paws together in an attempt to get warm.

"Well, I'm back, guys. And we found some pretty weird crap going on in the sky, too," he said, grabbing a seat by the fire and sitting on it back to front, so he could rest his chin on the back of the chair.

"We've got news, too," Seth murmured, opening up the XXL pizza box and helping himself to a slice as everyone crowded round and got tucking in. "But anyway, you first. What'd you find?"

"It was snowing, really briefly, really out of season, too. Now the warmer weather's coming, we shouldn't be getting snow... the climate isn't THAT out of whack," he started, taking a large mouthful of his pizza slice before continuing, "more than that, there's digital residue in the atmosphere, the snow was giving off lots of it, I analysed it on my D-Drive."

Everyone paused briefly and gave each other concerned looks, before Skyler finished eating his slice, before everyone seemed to launch off into a discussion over this peculiar report.

"I'm guessing there's either a gateway in the sky, or a digimon that can fly is up there." Skye murmured thoughtfully, as Clefmon took a sneaky bite out of her pizza slice when she wasn't looking. "H-Hey, that was my slice!"

Seth had eaten his fill and was feeding the remaining slice he couldn't finish to Cadmemon, who always preferred eating out of his hands. She licked his fingers clean affectionately as he ruffled her ears, though his expression was one of concern. "Right, and then there's... our assignment."

"Assignment?" Skyler questioned, raising an eyebrow in confusion, as he fiddled with the tip of one of Chasemon's ears subconsciously. Chasemon sneezed a little and wiped his nose on the back of one of his wings and kept eating, though he looked so tired he almost fell asleep against Skyler's leg.

Neon spoke up from where she was sitting beside Sayo, now, both girls taking it in turn to feed Cheromon little bite-sized chunks of pizza for her meal time. "Yeah, assignment. Our... informant stopped by, reminding us of the debt we owed him. He wants us to repay a favour."

Cheromon began hiccoughing loudly, tearing up a little. Sayo cradled her gently and bottle-fed her some more water, stroking her soft fluffy ears.

"So what's the assignment, then? Everyone looks kind of deeply thoughtful an' stuff." Skyler sighed, folding his arms across his chest. He had a bad feeling it was probably something unusual, a task they didn't usually take up. He reached for a bottle of water, and started taking a swig.

"We're gonna abduct one of the girls we've been monitoring," Seth replied in an off-hand sort of way, which caused Skyler to choke and spit out his own mouthful of water, but thankfully, Seth managed to dodge out of the way this time. "Whoa, watch it, idiot!"

"Yeah, he's already had one shower tonight, he probably won't need another now until next year-" Skye snorted, before Seth jumped her from behind and caught her up in a noogie. She tried to prize his arm from around her neck, but he was too strong for her. Sayo giggled at the siblings little play-fight going on, still cradling Cheromon.

"Get bent, Skye! And stop derailing the conversation, you do this _every time_." Her twin growled, still grinding his knuckles against the top of her head, as she squealed out loud, begging for mercy.

Skyler sighed in exasperation, fearing he'd never get this assignment elaborated on. All though the Resistance took their work seriously, sometimes they'd lapse into petty arguments put down to the two 'leaders' having their clashes, due to Seth's hot-headed short-temper and Skye's snarking towards him and everyone else.

Thankfully, Sayo decided to speak up and elaborate on the issue, setting Cheromon down on the ground. The small electric gremlin skipped off and decided to attach herself to Cadmemon in a tight koala-cling, which caused the black fox to groan loudly in protest.

"We were asked to... extract... Amy Hughes and Laelapmon, one of the people Cadmemon and Clefmon were sent to investigate not too long ago," she murmured, fidgeting slightly with the hem of her sweater. She felt uncomfortable with this, but the Resistance had done crimes worse than 'temporarily bringing someone down to fix their D-Drive', or so they'd been instructed to do by their guest. Sayo made sure to highlight this being the purpose of the 'kidnapping' job.

"But is abducting her really necessary?" Skyler questioned, sitting forward with concern. This seemed a bit much, even for him, and he'd been friends with Seth and Skye longer than anyone else, due to them having been internet friends since childhood.

"You know the rules. People coming down here that are outside our circle, that we can't trust, have to be blindfolded or put out of it. We don't want them knowing the routes in and out of here... especially since she's with an Arch Angel employee." Seth cautioned Skyler, who nodded back in acceptance of the leader's reasoning. One could not be too careful with Agents constantly on the look out... especially since one of the Agents main objectives was to capture the Resistance and their digimon.

"Righto, then. So then, Boss, what's the plan?" Skyler asked, getting up to stretch his legs. Kidnapping some girl and her little dog seemed like a piece of cake compared to the infiltrations they usually did on Arch Angel.

Seth got up, too, and moved in closer to the fire. He stood, watching the flames burn as he went over everything in his head. They'd discussed this earlier before Skyler got back, and he was going through everything carefully, making sure there would be no pitfalls to the plan.

"Listen up, because this is important. Neon will be phoning Joey in advance to set a time and date, and get him out of the picture for a bit. When that day comes, she'll be heading up an hour or so early to make sure there's enough gap so that if anything happens, you guys have a clear window of a chance of grabbing her, and getting the fuck out of there."

Seth looked round the group, making sure everyone was taking it in. Neon's expression was unreadable; Seth couldn't make out if she was pleased with this, or not. He had some suspicions about her and Joey, but now wasn't the time to question things, and she'd already been the one to offer up and suggest that part of the plan.

"Next, we need to get the target out of her apartment, get her somewhere secluded. We don't want witnesses, or someone'll call the cops, and if our digimon get spotted, it'll be all over the headlines. Regardless, make sure you bring stuff to conceal your facial features... you never know if those Agent goons are on the loose. Skyler, you and Skye are pulling off the kidnapping, got it?"

"Roger that, Boss. 'The Two Skies' strike again, eh?" Skyler grinned, winking over at Skye, who rolled her eyes over their embarrassing duo nickname, due to both of their names containing 'sky'.

"So you grab her, knock her out with our special Sporemon sleep bombs, and make a quick getaway back down here, sharpish. It'll be faster if you can bring her out near one of the underground entryways rather than fly, because god damn, Skyler, you took so long tonight we seriously thought we'd get our Christmas presents sooner than the pizza." Seth sighed, leaning back against the wall of the lounge.

"Hey, shut yer mouth, goth-boy, or I'll shut it for ya!" Skyler retorted, making a rude gesture at Seth, which the dark-haired boy returned.

"If we can keep her knocked out, great. We fix the D-Drive, maybe have a poke around in Laelapmon's data a bit, and then our informant is coming to collect her personally himself." Seth finished, grabbing his bottle of water and downing the rest in one go, where his mouth had gone dry from having to relay the plan on for Skyler's sake.

"Wait, so this means you're alone with Sayo all day, then~?" Tanukimon called up from the back. Sayo's face changed to a bright shade of tomato red, as she hurriedly grabbed Tanukimon and pressed her hand over the cheeky raccoon dog digimon's mouth to silence her from spouting any more embarrassing questions.

"I'm gonna be running checks on the weather crap Skyler was talking about, and keeping track of the Agents. You guys know they go on out-of-uniform patrol now, too, so I want to make sure if they're anywhere near the extraction point, 'the two skies' have ample time to get away. Sayo will be helping me keep track of those areas and doing spot checks for any wild digimon activity in place of Skye." he replied, having completely missed the point entirely and what Sayo's crafty partner had been implying. Sayo wasn't sure whether she was glad Tanukimon's query had skipped past him, or disappointed, though she covered her face in embarrassment on catching Skye and Skyler smirking at her knowingly.

"Right, then. I guess that's it for tonight, guys." Seth yawned, stretching. He noted that all the digimon other than Tanukimon and Cadmemon were fast asleep on the floor, where it was very late now. "I guess it's time to hit the sack, then."

Due to everyone's housing circumstances, they all shared Seth and Skye's house on most nights, since it beat spending nights alone in freezing rooms in silence. Seth and Skyler shared a room, with the girls all squeezing into another room together, with the digimon often sleeping beside their partners to keep warm.

It had been many, many years since most of them had slept in a proper bed, in the warm, or woken up to the sun shining in through their windows. Trying not to think of times where a bed was more than just mattresses on the floor, everyone attempted to get some sleep, so that the following days could be spent preparing for the task their mysterious informant had given them.

* * *

><p>Manimon watched Joey start polishing the ornaments up on the mantelpiece in their apartment for what seemed like the umpteenth time. He could tell he was nervous about something, but had been so excited about whatever it was on his mind he hadn't stopped humming 'It's a wonderful world' all morning.<p>

"Something wrong?" he asked, biting into an apple from his seat on the couch. Normally he would watch TV, but when Joey was in one of his cleaning moods, Manimon became hypnotized. He was convinced Joey was a robot of the cleaning variety, because normal humans shouldn't clean this often, or find it this therapeutic, or so he thought. Sometimes if Joey was really hot and bothered over something, he'd go over to Amy's apartment and offer to clean her place up, too.

"No, nothing's wrong," Joey muttered, gliding past with the mop, cleaning the tiled kitchen floor from across the way. "Actually... yes... I guess I'm worried about something..."

Manimon hopped off the couch and headed over to the kitchen, still crunching away at the apple. He leaned against the side of the counter, staring up at Joey with puffy round cheeks full of apple chunks, in a way that made Joey think of Bugs Bunny.

"Go on."

"I have a problem." Joey sighed, pausing his cleaning spree to get himself a glass of milk. "A girl I met during the evening of Marina's concert phoned me up this morning, and uhh... well... she asked me out. On a date, I think."

"Wow, that is a problem," Manimon drawled, with a smirk, "What girl in their right mind would ask you out? She needs her head tested- wait, WHAT? A GIRL ASKED YOU OUT?"

Immediately, all the apple chunks in Manimon's mouth went spraying out all over the kitchen floor, whilst Manimon proceeded to fall into a loud coughing fit, sprawled out on his back in shock at this surprising turn of events.

"Oh, well _thanks _for the encouragement, Manimon," Joey sighed, scrubbing the floor clean again. He nudged his foot underneath Manimon's behind and gently slid him out off the tiled flooring so he could continue his cleaning. "But I mean, it's been years and years since I've been out on something like this... and god, she's like nothing else..."

Manimon rubbed his tail where it had been smooshed against Joey's foot during being punted to one side, waving his paw about in a circular motion, gesturing for Joey to continue speaking.

"I can't really explain it... I feel like we really click. From what I've seen of her, she reminds me of someone I used to really like... all sugar and spice, and kind of naughty, and..."

"WHOOOAH there, Romeo, I don't like where this conversation is going! You save your fantasies for the bedroom and a box of tissues or something, my delicate ears need to spared from THAT." Manimon smirked, sneering up at Joey slyly, waiting to see his reaction.

Joey's face heated up so fast, Manimon thought his partner's steamed-up glasses would shatter apart from their frames.

"Oh shut up! I-It wasn't like that, and I certainly wouldn't do the thing you're implying I'd do, you sleazy little pervert!" Joey growled, shooting Manimon a flustered glare. The rabbit beamed from ear to ear over working the poor guy up, but decided to drop any more teasing of that nature.

"Anyway," Manimon spoke up after a short silence that had fallen over the apartment, as he watched Joey begin polishing up the dishes in the sink from last night's dinner. "You've got nothing to worry about. You're a swell guy, and hey, if she wasn't interested in seeing you again, she wouldn't have phoned. Just be yourself, and don't go in all high-hopes of coming back for some hoo-haa tonight and you'll be fine."

"You know, you could have just stopped at the phoning-back part," Joey muttered, his face all flushed again, "I'm not doing this for 'hoo-haa', if that's what you're calling it now. But I'm lonely on a level you and Amy can't really... help with."

Manimon knew what Joey was talking about. Relationships, of course... something Manimon often joked about, but he'd known Joey had been "lonely" in that sense for a while, and wanted someone to be close to.

"I can't say this will lead anywhere... err... I mean, she herself called it a 'date', but I mean, people have different ideas of what a 'date' is, and all... and I hardly know her..." Joey rambled on bashfully. He'd wondered if he'd see her again, the mysterious 'Kaide' from the bar, who in fact was not Kaide at all, but Neon, the girl who seemed to be keeping her true name away from him, not that he knew this. "God... I don't mean to sound over-excited or anything. I'm just nervous... I don't know what to expect."

"Well, if she's anything like what you've been saying, you can expect a darn good time out with her, eh? When is it, anyway?" his small rabbit digimon inquired, peering up at his friend curiously.

"Tomorrow, at 12:30pm. I'm so nervous, though. I don't know what I should wear, I don't even know what we'll be doing... she said she wanted to surprise me..." he sighed, already looking worn out. He stopped cleaning up, and instead went and busied himself with getting an outfit ready in advance, since he was still a bag of nerves over it... and in the back of his head, he was still thinking about the girl he'd left behind in England.

Manimon sighed in exasperation, he'd never be able to understand what Joey had to feel so nervous about.

* * *

><p>Amy stretched and sat more up straight. She'd been up since 8, finishing up more of her assignment, and answering emails back and forth with her dad. He was contacting her every break time back at the University, and now it was around lunch time, he could be a bit more frequent with her.<p>

He'd always been keeping check since she came over, asking her how she was doing, and how she was enjoying Japan. He'd decided not to mention Hiro, and Amy had yet to talk to Joey about it. She hadn't felt up to it after coming back from the training, and he'd respectfully given her some space. She would have put aside time for the discussion today, but he'd been invited out, so now she was spending the day with Laelapmon whilst getting work done.

Laelapmon was laying on her back, flexing her legs in time with the instructor on TV. She'd taken to watching fitness programs and exercising in time to music and the aerobics instructors on the shows, exercising for a viable amount of time each day, even since before the training had taken place. But now she was treating it more seriously. Unlike Manimon, who was a bit of a couch potato, she wanted to be prepping herself in the event Amy needed her, when they were out and about.

"Dad's lunch break is coming to an end," Amy called over, "and I feel up to going out for a bit, too. I haven't really had a chance to go out much since coming here, so I was thinking it'd be nice to really have a good look around... do you want to come too, Laelapmon?"

She sat over next to Laelapmon, and playfully began playing with her partner's paws, stroking her thumbs against the puppy digimon's paw-pads, and making her arms 'dance'. Laelapmon barked up in a giggly way, wagging her tail. Both of them felt a bit better now, and the day was certainly nice enough for a trip out.

"Alright. If we're lucky, we might be able to go to the park and I can come out of the D-Drive?" Laelapmon asked hopefully. She'd seen a dog training program on the TV earlier, and seen people throwing frisbees back and forth to get their dogs to fetch them, and wondered, since those people seemed to be having fun, if Amy would enjoy a game of frisbee with her. She made a mental note to remind Amy to buy a frisbee whilst they were out.

However, at this moment, Amy received a call... on her D-Drive. She almost jumped out of her skin in shock, and after pressing several buttons finally figured out how to answer it. She'd known about the call function, but only after Joey had walked her through all the options properly.

"H-Hello?" she asked, nervously. The 'caller' hadn't come up on the screen, so she was anxious who was calling, and how they'd contacted her.

"Amy?" came Joey's voice on the other end. "Hi, there's been a change of plans... I, uhh... well, the girl I was going to meet got called away. Rather than waste the day, I was wondering if you'd like to meet up with me? We can spend the day out, instead."

"Oh! I was about to head out, too. Where do you want us to meet?" she asked back, wondering if he was alright. He'd been so psyched about going out for a bit with this new girl he'd met recently, she wondered how he was holding up on being shafted like that. He sounded like he was keeping it together... but she couldn't be sure.

Joey thought for a bit, and finally gave her a time and place. Amy was to meet him at a café called Pink Songbird. She hadn't been to the street where this café supposedly was, but if she missed it, she could easily ask for directions.

"Alright, Laelapmon. We're meeting up with Joey, by the looks of things... but we'll still go to the park after, alright?" She patted Laelapmon's head gently and digitized her into her D-Drive, and a short while later, set off on her way.

* * *

><p>"Excuse me... where is the Pink Songbird café?" Amy asked a man passing by some time later. She'd been looking about for ten minutes all over the place, but couldn't find it. The strange leer the man gave her made her feel nervous, and his reply even more so.<p>

"You don't seem like the kinda gal that'd go to place like that, sweetheart" He asked, flicking the end of his cigarette butt away. Everything around here looked strange and unwelcoming, and this man was no different. Amy was confused as to why Joey would call her out to a place like this.

There were dozens of nightclubs, 'adult' entertainment venues, and adult shops about. It was almost like a red-light district around here, or so she thought. She wondered what the hell he was thinking, calling her out to such a place... this did not seem like a part of the city Joey would ever have called her out to before.

"It's down that alley, on the right." The stranger sighed, on seeing her expression fall, "Kids these days... you must be real strapped fer cash. You ain't the first young lady that's skulked on through these parts looking to get cash through that sorta stuff."

Amy swallowed hard, and mumbled something of a 'thanks for your help' and scurried away. She had a terrible feeling growing in the pit of her stomach. Something was telling her she was being set-up. Why would Joey do something like this?

Gingerly, she made her way down the alley, until she saw a bright pink sign with a picture of a bird, and fancy lettering spelling out 'Pink Songbird'... it was a strip joint. Amy froze on reading the sign. Was he expecting her to go inside? Thankfully, she didn't have to find out... it was closed. And it wouldn't even be open until late.

"Laelapmon..." she whispered down, clutching her D-Drive tight from nerves. She was glad Laelapmon was with her now, more than ever... the whole situation reeked of bad vibes. "I think something is wrong..."

Turning, she could see two people around her age approaching, their eyes fixed on her. One was a guy with mousy brown hair, wearing a leather flight jacket, and wearing flight goggles, and the other was a girl wearing a black dress and jacket, with a cat-earred hat. Amy clutched her D-Drive anxiously, as the pair both simultaneously reached into their pockets.

Her eyes widened in surprise on seeing them produce D-Drives of their own... they had realized digimon at some point, too, and she knew, she knew deep inside, from the looks on their faces that they were coming after her.

She turned and started running off down one of the side alleys, the pair giving pursuit. She could hear yelling, before two bright flashes filled the dark alleyway with light, the pursuing pair having released their digimon.

"You guys, get her!" yelled Skyler, readying some Sporemon-produced sleep bombs.

Chasemon and Clefmon took off, gliding down the alley straight for Amy. Just as it seemed they were going to reach her, something slashed past the pair of them, knocking them both to the ground, thin slash marks across their chests. Both digimon yelled out in pain, as Laelapmon stood, snarling, with her Gale Sword at the ready.

"Stay away from her," Laelapmon growled, thinking back to her training with Barghestmon, just as Amy was. If things got too much, they'd have to keep running, but for now, she was confident in herself enough that she would focus all her efforts on keeping Amy safe. She had done so against Barghestmon, and she refused to let this pair hurt her.

"Oh boo-hoo, doggy, so you got a mark on us!" Clefmon chirped, climbing back to her feet. "Prism Feathers!"

Plucking a handful of feathers from her feathery hairdo, Clefmon held them between her claws like throwing knives, before flinging them towards Laelapmon. The small dog swang her blade, managing to slice through most of the feathers, and deflect some of the others. Clefmon gave her a shocked, indignant look of anger. _Nobody_ reflected _her_ feathers!

"Heavy Metal!" Chasemon called in his soft Texan accent, as liquid metal coated over his body. He shot forward like a cannonball, straight for Laelapmon, smashing her into the wall.

"Now, Skyler!" Skye yelled over the sound of bricks being broken apart. She had quickly covered her mouth, as had Skyler, before he flung a small pouch straight for Amy. It burst apart at her feet, sending up a cloud of sparkling, misty pink powder, which got into her eyes and mouth.

She called out for Laelapmon, who was still struggling, being restrained back by Chasemon who was still coated in liquid metal, and Clefmon, who was pulling her back by her ears, both Resistance digimon keeping her in place. Amy's eyes began to lose focus, and she felt herself growing steadily more drowsy, everything going dark, and the sounds of her partner growing distant, until finally, she had lost consciousness and fallen into deep sleep under the effects of the sleep bomb.

The 'two skies' headed over. Skyler lifted Amy up into his arms, whilst Skye retrieved the D-Drive which had fallen from her grasp. Laelapmon was snarling, livid with rage, struggling to get free. She'd left bloodied bite and claw marks all over Chasemon an Clefmon's necks, and both were finding it difficult to keep ahold of her, as Skye approached. In a matter of seconds, Laelapmon was digitized forcefully back inside Amy's D-Drive at the press of a button, and stored inside of Skye's coat pocket.

"Right. We're done. Let's get out of here," Skye sighed, after checking their digimon over.

"She sure put up a good fight tryin' ter get free..." Chasemon sighed, licking his arms gingerly, where the marks left on him were still sore and painful, "She's got a wicked set of teeth, that 'un..."

"Nobody just deflects MY feathers! HUMPH!" Clefmon moaned, preening her wings, and straightening up her head-feathers more in frustration. Both Digimon were otherwise fine, however, much to the relief of Skye.

"Well, this was easier than I thought it'd be." Skyler said, peering down at Amy's sleeping face, "This weren't so bad after all, I'd do jobs like this more often if it means I get to carry cute girls back home!"

Chasemon grinned, his own cheeks going a little pink. He wouldn't have minded carrying a girl home, if he hadn't been so short. Skye and Clefmon simultaneously rolled their eyes and muttered 'typical men' under their breaths.

"But... honestly, Clefmon, did you HAVE to choose Pink Songbird of ALL places?" Skye sighed, nudging Clefmon with her foot. The little recorder digimon giggled in her usual bubbly way, and winked up at her partner.

"Of _course_~! It's just like me! A pink songbird!"

"It isn't, not really," Skyler grinned, as the four of them began heading over towards a large manhole, which Chasemon lifted up for them. "You're not a hot stripper."

Clefmon puffed her feathers up so much she almost looked like a powder-puff, her eyes going all shiny with tears of shame, making a squeaky little "ooooooohhhh!" in frustration over Skyler's comment, which had the other three burst out laughing at her, as the Resistance, with Amy in tow, vanished off one by one down the manhole to get through the sewers to one of the many numerous secret passageways leading down to the Underworld.

* * *

><p>Joey on the other hand was having a much better time out. Neon had arrived in her usual mismatched socks, wearing a black leather jacket with numerous piercings in her ears and a long black shirt over her red shorts, which Joey had been expecting, since she wasn't the 'normal' kind of girl he'd have normally expected.<p>

He'd come in a plain white t-shirt, jeans and a denim jacket, and had decided to wear contact lenses for the day, since his glasses made him feel too self-conscious at the last minute.

"Wow, you sure do look different without your glasses. You're almost like a different guy entirely." She commented, reaching up to brush his fringe out of his face so she could get a better look at his face, an action that quickly had his face heating up in embarrassment.

"I felt like something different, today..." He replied, glancing aside. He felt like a different person, too. Normally he wouldn't be doing something like this. He always made up some excuse or made himself too busy for it, but he'd been wondering if he'd see her again, and he hadn't expected it to be something like this. They'd kept in touch during text messages of a night time, but this had been the first time she'd phoned him up to speak again, and it had led to this.

They walked for a bit, talking to each-other like they'd been old friends for years. Joey felt so at ease, all thoughts bothering him about his grandfather and work going out of his head... completely unaware to what was taking place elsewhere.

"I know a great place we could have some fun. Fancy going ice skating?" She asked, grinning at him from his side. He blinked and stared at her, before feeling a little anxious.

"I don't know how to, I've never done it before..." he replied, his thumb stroking against the D-Drive in his pocket to try to calm his nerves down. Having Manimon close was the only thing giving him confidence, now. He'd permitted Manimon to address him as 'Chicken Sawyer' for a week if he backed out of anything that happened whilst with her.

"It's easy when you get used to it. You can hold onto me for support, if you like, I promise not to break out some wild stunt, ehehe..." She laughed, suddenly grabbing his wrist and running off with him, heading off for the ice rink. He was stunned... she really was reminding him so much of the girl he'd left behind... they were so similar it was scary, but they looked different.

They way they smiled, the way they just took control and led him off doing things he'd never dare to do on his own, the same spark of mischief in their eyes... they could easily have been sisters, if he didn't know any better.

Inside, he offered to pay, even though she had been adamant he didn't have to. He took note how happy she looked, pulling on her skates, whilst he shyly fumbled about with his. He grew further embarrassed as she knelt down in-front of him and helped him get his skates on, asking several times if they fit him alright, as he reassured her they were fine, and he was fine too... even if the last part had been a lie. He had butterflies in his gut from all the nerves.

"Alright then, Joey-boy, let's get skating!" she called, grinning at him. She stepped out onto the ice, skating out a little, before turning around and gesturing at him to follow after her. Gingerly grabbing the sides of the rink, he took his first ever steps out, his body going tense as he slid out towards her. He could feel his legs beginning to part too much for his liking, and he suddenly slipped forward, flailing his arms in a panic.

"Waaaaaaoooah God!" he gasped, his eyes going wide with surprise as he tilted forward towards her. Shutting his eyes tight, he braced himself in anticipation of hitting her, or the ground.

He made contact against something, but it wasn't what he expected... it wasn't the cold ice below their feet, it was soft and warm. Daring to open his eyes after the shock had vanished, he realized she had caught him... and was now holding him steady in her arms.

"Easy there, tiger." She smiled down at him, with half-lidded eyes. "Don't be too eager, it's only the first date, eh?"

Joey's face was glowing red as he carefully and slowly straightened himself up, unsure of where to look. He couldn't believe he'd just made a fool of himself in the middle of a crowded ice rink, and more importantly, her. "I-I'm so sorry!" he managed to stammer, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"It's cool," she replied, grinning up at him again. "Here... I'll let you hold my hand instead."

Joey felt her fingers entwine with his as she clasped ahold of his hand. She began to skate forward with him, showing him how it was done. He tried not to cling to hard to her, but he was still nervous... and a mix of emotions. He felt like he was beginning to lose track of time in here with her, as they glided together over the frozen floor.

His heart was hammering inside his chest a mile a minute, from nerves, from adrenaline, and because it felt... good, having someone's hand in his. Her own face was growing slightly pink from it, too, her own cool exterior faltering slightly.

Every time they glanced at each-other and their eyes met, both would get a little more flustered and look away, as they got more and more caught up in their moment. Neon had a growing weight on her chest... relief that she'd been able to pull off today, some warm, happy feeling inside that she wasn't sure she was able to identify... and a sense of guilt.

She knew Joey very well. Very, very well. And it seemed like, inside, maybe he was getting some familiar feeling about her. But she wasn't ready to tell him the truth just yet... especially not with them on opposing sides. He was with Arch Angel, even if only for his grandfather, and she was with the Resistance, both sides sworn enemies of the other, both seeking to take out the opposing side.

Their past history had already been so dicey as is, and now, fate had dealt them strange and conflicting hands to deal with... it felt unfair.

Before either could enjoy the moment any more, Joey's D-Drive began beeping away noisily, giving out a distress signal. He bit his lip angrily at first, thinking it was Manimon pulling some cruel prank to disrupt them, but it wasn't... not this.

"I'm so sorry... I need to take this..." he muttered. He didn't realize Neon knew what that sound meant, and hoped she only thought it was his mobile.

"Joey, before you go..." She murmured softly, giving his hand, which she was still handing a little squeeze. He looked down at her face, and the two held each-others gaze in silence, something seeming to build up between them.

"Y-Yeah...?" He asked nervously, his mouth feeling dry.

Suddenly, she tugged on his jacket a bit, bringing him more down to her level where she was slightly shorter than him, and gave him a sudden kiss, right on his lips. Immediately his face seemed to grow so red he was sure it could be seen from space.

"I had a great time today... I'd like to come out with you again some time."

Joey was speechless, his heart beating so hard in his chest in surprise of what had just happened that he was certain it was audible to her. She led him back over to the seating area, both of them stepping off the ice together as if in sync.

"You gonna answer the call, then?" She grinned playfully after a moment of letting it sink in for him. He shook his head and seemed to come back down from out of the clouds his head had temporarily got stuck in.

"O-Oh, yeah, sure... w-what about you?" he asked her, feeling guilty about having to call an early end to their time out.

"I'll probably head off for a bit... I've got ways of keeping myself occupied." She replied, patting his shoulder, "Don't be a stranger, yeah?"

And with that, she headed off out after returning her ice skates. Joey watched after her wistfully, almost completely forgetting about the D-Drive's signal until Manimon's yell caught his attention.

"Yeah, smooth moves, Casanova, but will ya freakin' pay attention?" Manimon growled up in frustration, looking borderline livid.

"What's wrong, Manimon?" Joey mumbled down in shame. Had Manimon seen what had happened? He couldn't have done. He didn't know, but Manimon had already met Neon... and if he'd seen, he would have been sure to raise a stink over this fact.

"Laelapmon contacted me... two guys from the resistance just gassed Amy and shut Laelapmon up in the D-Drive... Joey, Amy's been _kidnapped_!" he yelled, giving his tamer a dire look of urgency.

It took Joey a moment to process this information. He was stunned. This couldn't be right, surely... what would the Resistance want with her? He felt wretched. Here he'd been, lost in a world of his own, and having briefly ignored a distress signal... he wanted to punch himself. "Where are they now, have you got a location?"

"Yeah, they're right on the other side of town, though... you couldn't have picked a worse place for a date... by time we get there, she could've gone anywhere, now..." Manimon sighed, nursing his temples where he felt the stress giving him a pounding headache.

Joey went to dash out but forgot to take off his ice-skates first, and ended up tripping up and falling over a woman and her kid. He swore, tore his boots off and retrieved his proper shoes, before dashing out down the street as fast as his legs would carry him, making a bee-line for the subway. Running alone would not be enough to hurry him to her location.

* * *

><p>Amy slowly opened her eyes. Her head throbbed, and she felt like hell.<p>

She'd been asleep, but for just how long? It was impossibly dark inside the room she was in, and the air was stale and dank.

Sitting up, she cringed. She'd been laid out on an old mattress, with a worn looking blanket laid over her. Where was she?

She felt for her D-Drive... and failed to find it, anywhere on her. Panicking, she jumped up, and checked around the mattress, in-case it had fallen out- but it had gone, vanished. She made a grab on the door handle, but she'd been locked in.

"Let me OUT!" she screamed, beginning to bang on the door, banging her fists against it futilely, to no avail.

Eventually, she heard footsteps approaching... someone was running outside, coming for her. Immediately, she stepped back, as the strangers at the door opened up.

"Whoah now, calm down, will ya?" asked Skyler, who had cautiously opened the door. He failed to see her coming at him with her fists balled up, as she swung a punch at him. Her fist connected with his cheek and she nearly managed to knock him backwards, as he yelped in pain.

"Shadow Attraction!"

Immediately, inky tentacles began to creep up her legs from under her, binding them together, slinking further up her body to restrain her arms and hands, too. She stumbled from trying to wriggle free, and fell, before the girl at the door managed to catch her. She looked worried, shivering slightly as Amy shrieked for help and continued writhing about, trying to free herself.

"Calm down, you crazy bitch..." Cadmemon sighed, her paws still glowing with black energy, which was flowing into Amy's shadow and was the cause of the shadow tendrils restraining her. "We're not going to hurt you."

"Who the hell are you people, what do you want with me, and where am I?" She snarled angrily, the girl who as holding her blanching back slightly from nerves, "what have you done with Laelapmon?"

"Please listen!" Sayo, who was the one currently holding onto her, said. "Laelapmon is fine. You're safe. Nothing will happen to you, or her... this is simply what we have to do, to keep this place a secret. It was either sleep bombs, or blindfolding you, and Seth doubted you would willingly come with us under blindfold..."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Amy snapped back, glaring at them all. Skyler was still rubbing his face where she'd hit him, though he was grinning away like a moron at her. He stepped forward shakily, his head still dizzy from the hit, and spoke up.

"You're a feisty one, aren't you? I like that, that's cute." He grinned, still nursing his sore face, "Look, you're with us, the Resistance. Someone, a friend of yours... we owed him a favour, and we're repaying what we owe by fixing your D-Drive. We heard you and little Laelapmon had a lock preventing her from digivolving... well, we're gonna sort that out for you, alright?"

"W-What...?" Amy asked, all the anger seeming to leave her, and being replaced by shock. She didn't know what to believe. She'd just been whisked away off the street, and brought down here without consent, and they were doing this to _help_ her?

"I'm really sorry we attacked you earlier... but we can't bring people we don't trust down here. Not when there's so much at stake. If you were 'bugged' in any way, like with a tracking device, or able to call for back-up, or told anyone about how to get down here... it'd be bad news for us." Skyler explained, folding his arms, "I know that must sound like a load of bull to you, but..."

"It's the truth..." Sayo sighed, folding her hands in her lap. "Agents are always trying to track us down, and stop us. They're up to something, and we think that they may have some ties with the problems going on here... and the Digital World."

"Right... so if we're taken out by their much more numerous work force, both worlds are as good as done for. We're the only group still left that's able to fight back. All the others were wiped out- the ones overseas, I mean," Skyler continued, leaning against the door frame.

Amy continued giving everyone present a sour look, but she began to calm down more as she heard them out. She was still sceptical, and still upset over being taken by them, but she listened. Cadmemon began to loosen her grip on her gradually, when she could sense her nerves calming down more.

"We've... umm... we've kind of had you 'checked out' by Cadmemon and Clefmon, to see if you and Joey were a threat..." Sayo admitted, carefully trying to word this all in a way that hopefully wouldn't freak Amy out, or set her off into another rage, though this was clearly almost sending her over the edge again. "We do this to everyone who realizes a Digimon that we come across... we just want to make sure people won't misuse their Digimon to cause havoc in the city..."

"You... so you guys are trying to keep the city safe?" Amy murmured, rubbing her arms and legs after being released, her joints aching slightly after being kept in this damp room, though looking past them into the corridor revealed the rest of the building seemed to be in a similar state.

"Yes... digimon have already been killing people here for many years, and we're trying to prevent any more lives being lost... when Arch Angel first started 'producing' digital assistants, not long after, the virus apparently started ravaging the Digital World," Sayo explained, sitting beside Amy on the mattress, "We're convinced that Arch Angel is up to something big, and we keep finding evidence that supports our theory... on top of this, employees of theirs who dig too deep past their station, so to speak, suddenly disappear..."

"Joey's grandfather..." Amy murmured, her blood running cold. He must have realized something was going on, too, and investigated, and got caught... she dreaded to think of how she would explain this to Joey...

"People go missing even outside of Arch Angel, though," Skyler added, his expression growing dark, "We lost one of our own, too. Our original leader, Zeke Grimshaw, was doing his investigations when the portals first started up... he went through, and some time after, we lost all contact with him. There's many people going missing that the government doesn't tell you about... this has been going on for years now, going on for at least ten or so, maybe even longer."

Amy was taking this all in, in silence. She'd gotten the impression that the Resistance were something akin to a gang causing trouble, or some group of radicals... but they were people who had lost someone important, and were trying to stop all these terrible things from happening to others, and had the power to do so, and so were doing something about it.

"Do you know what they do to Digimon they find, Amy?" Cadmemon asked, from off to the side. Amy shook her head no, a horrid feeling growing in her. "They _kill them_, in cold blood. Even ones who passed through because they were _terrified_, trying to escape from the virus... Ones that begged for mercy, that came in _peace_. Arch Angel views them as vermin, whilst seeing their own as tools, weapons..."

Amy swallowed back a lump forming in her throat. It pained her especially to think back on what Barghestmon had said after the training... he could have _surrendered _himself, he had said. Given himself up, like a wanted criminal... and he had been trying his best to do the right thing, for both worlds, and he would be hunted down and killed for it with the exact same prejudice that a wild, antagonistic digimon would be, the same if Laelapmon and her friend's digimon would if they were caught.

"Alright, Cadmemon, that's enough. You're upsetting her, now," came another voice from the door. Seth appeared, his expression still stern, as he looked in on everyone.

Immediately, everyone present besides Amy stood to attention, with Sayo helping Amy to her feet. Cadmemon nuzzled against her beloved tamer's legs proudly, her two shadowy tails stroking against his legs like smoke.

"The D-Drive is fixed. All the locks were removed, so Laelapmon shouldn't have any more trouble trying to digivolve, now," he commented, Amy's face lighting up in excitement.

"Does this mean I can see her, now?" she asked, giving him a hopeful look. Sayo smiled at Seth encouragingly, and he nodded back in silence. "Oh, thank god!"

Seth lead her out, accompanied by the others, into what appeared to be a giant hall. There was a massive screen almost taking up an entire wall, surrounded by dozens of other, smaller monitors. There was several broken terminals... the entire thing looked like something out of a science-fiction film.

"This used to be an army base, or so we gather," Seth commented, as they headed through the gloom of the great hall, "We use this as our base of operations... and we house perhaps the best inventor on the planet, who rivals even the best super computer humans could ever make."

Amy could make out, in an adjoining hall, where the wall had been caved in, with a large iron beam wedged sideways from the ceiling into the cracked concrete flooring, a giant reptilian figure, akin to a salamander or a lindwurm. It was sorting through a pile of junk building up around it with it's large claws very carefully, two stubby remains that were possibly once legs barely visible down it's impossibly long body. It looked ancient, despite the machine-like body.

"Chasemon, yer a star, helpin' get more materials," the figure spoke, in a similar Texan accent to the much smaller Chasemon, who was lugging various scrap metal and old computer parks over for the bigger digimon to fiddle with.

"SysOpmon" Seth called up, "Laelapmon's partner's here, why don't you introduce yourself to her?"

Skyler grinned and called up from behind everyone, "yeah, say hello, you anti-social old git!"

SysOpmon's glowing eyes pierced the gloom like bright headlamps, lighting up most of the hall around them. The many wires protruding from his body were pulled taut, attached to something so far up above them that they vanished into complete darkness. Whatever he was attached to, he heaved himself around using his wires, shifting his gargantuan self to face them all. Amy trembled slightly as he brought his head forward, his breath ruffling them all like the wind, as he looked her over.

"So... yer Amy, are ya?" SysOpmon spoke, in a voice that was not as loud or booming as one would expect from someone his size. "I must say... yer partner is... somethin' special."

"What does that mean?" Amy asked, her legs feeling like they were made of jelly. She'd never seen anything so big in all her life... there were digimon really this big? She could hardly believe it. It was shocking.

"Heh... never-mind. What's more important is you wanna see 'er, I take it? I'm th' one that fixed 'er up, good as new. I 'spose you don't know, but my kind were ones designed by Yggdrasil to help maintain the technology of the Digital World..." the giant metallic dragon explained, in a lazy-sounded voice. "Though right now, I'm in these young scamp's care an' hospitality servicin' their machinery and what have you... such as yer D-Drive fer example."

A small, thin wire appeared, wrapped around her D-Drive from above, hanging down directly before her. She held her hands out, and he released it into her hands, as she felt herself tearing up, on both having Laelapmon back, and knowing the thing that had been worrying her digimon so much was now gone, meaning she could perform at 100% like she'd always wanted to.

On realizing Laelapmon, the two clung together tearfully, Amy on her knees with Laelapmon hugging into her shoulder tight. The resistance members all smiled a little to themselves over the reunion, their request now fulfilled.

"Ain't that just the sweetest?" Chasemon commented, wiping big bloopy tears from his own eyes, his nostrils running a bit. SysOpmon dropped another wire down, this time in-front of Chasemon, holding a box of tissues, which Chasemon used to wipe his eyes and blow his nose into loudly.

"Ain't it just!" SysOpmon laughed, grinning like a shark. "Well, if that's all yer needin', I'mma be gettin' back to fixin' up our new server."

"Well... there we go. That's our debt repaid..." Seth sighed. "Amy... you're gonna have to be blindfolded now it's time to go back. Otherwise we have to keep you here, you know."

Amy laughed awkwardly, hoping he was only joking about the last bit, which thankfully it turned out he was. She reluctantly accepted her fate of being blindfolded by them, with Skyler taking hold of her again.

"I bet you feel like a bride, being carried about in my arms like this," he grinned down at her, as he started off with Skye by his side once more, as they headed towards an old service elevator that lead part ways back up to the 'overworld'.

"Not really, I just feel like you wanted an excuse to hold me in your arms," Amy replied, poking her tongue out at him. "Oh, um... sorry for punching you earlier, too... but I didn't know what was happening..."

"Nah, it's cool, I understand. I'd hit me too if I saw my ugly mug at the door as well," Skyler laughed.

"Amy, the person who asked us for help said you guys are fighting for the city, too... you know, if you ever need our help... just pass on the word to your friend, and we'll be there," Skye commented, as they road up in the elevator. "We owe him so much, so if you're a friend of his, you're a friend of the Resistance, too."

Amy wondered who this supposed friend was, who had instructed them to do all of this. She didn't have long to wait to find out.

* * *

><p>At least half an hour or more later, the small group finally reached the surface, coming out from an abandoned warehouse that had a series of old underground storage halls. Once everyone was safely outside, Amy's blindfold was removed, and she let Laelapmon out once more so her partner could stretch her legs after being stored inside the D-Drive long enough.<p>

The sun was setting down over them, and there was a noticeable chill in the air, very unusual for this time of year, with summer approaching. Amy saw three figures approaching from just outside the rusty old warehouse gates.

"Joey!" Amy yelled, sprinting across to him, and he to her, their arms outstretched.

"Oh god, Amy, I've been so worried... I thought something terrible happened, I got Laelapmon's distress signal too late..."

Laelapmon and Manimon were also hugging one another tight, where they'd both been so worried about each-other. She was licking his face all over, in gratitude, with him making loud "ptooie" noises in response, but otherwise unable to stop smiling.

"And... don't tell me... it was you, who asked the Resistance for help..." Amy murmured, staring up into none-other than Barghestmon's face. The big dog smiled down at her, and nodded his head.

"Yes. I hope they weren't too rough on you, what with their specific rules about outsiders and all..."

Skye and Skyler both shuffled awkwardly where they stood behind everyone, and tried not to look too guilty and embarrassed over it all.

"I bumped into Barghestmon trying to track you, and then he explained everything... naturally I was surprised, but... well... you're alright, and so is Laelapmon, and that's all that matters, right?" Joey said, patting Amy's shoulder affectionately.

"Yeah, we're both alright," Amy replied, managing a smile. It felt good to be back up on the surface, under the sun, with clean, fresh air. "Thanks for getting help for us, big guy, even if you are naughty about how you go about your business!"

Barghestmon grinned as Amy poked him on the nose. Laelapmon padded over, and jumped up several times to get his attention in trying to also reach his nose. He lowered his head down to her level, and she proceeded to shower him in gratitude.

"Thank you so much, Barghestmon! I feel like I'll be a whole new digimon, starting from tomorrow!" she barked, peppering his nose with many licks and kisses.

"Well, don't change too much. I'm quite fond of the digimon you are now," he replied, pressing his nose against hers before giving her own little nose a lick with the tip of his tongue. A slow, full-body shiver travelled all the way up from the tip of her tail to the ends of her ears, which were standing right on end, as she fell backwards onto her back from surprise. Barghestmon grinned down at her hot-pink face, whilst everyone else laughed.

"Oh... if it wasn't Joey that called me out, then who was it?" Amy asked, remembering how Joey had apparantly called her D-Drive, "And how did you guys get my D-Drive's number?"

"How we got your number is a secret," Skyler smiled, "As for 'Joey' calling you, then, well..."

"That was _me,_" Clefmon called, in a flawless imitation of Joey's voice, which looked ridiculously out of place out of the mouth of a small pink bird digimon.

Now that Amy's last questions were answered, it seemed like everyone was about ready to go back to their respective places.

"Oh, cripes... we gotta go. Seth was gonna tell me about the weather update... I take it you'll be joining us, Barghestmon?" Skye commented, suddenly remembering the other thing Seth had been looking into today. Amy and Joey both looked over in curiosity, but Skye gave them both a dismissive sort of look.

"What weather update? What's going on?" Joey asked, looking confused.

"You guys go home and rest... whatever it is, we've got it covered." Skye replied. Barghestmon headed past, and Skye patted his nose, before commenting on how wet it was from Laelapmon's numerous public displays of affection, and he proceeded to wet her nose back with another lick.

After seeing each other off, both parties went their separate ways.

* * *

><p>"Just as we suspected, there's a digimon causing the weather changes," Seth muttered, leaning against the vast array of buttons in-front of the giant screen in the Resistance headquarters.<p>

"Oh great," Skyler responded sarcastically. "There goes our upcoming summer vacation. Instead, we'll be having a snowboarding holiday before long."

Screens with analysis of the digital residue that Skyler's D-Drive had analysed were bought up, as well as scans from the sky and various other numerous data files. The members, and Barghestmon, all assembled together, read through, as SysOpmon spoke out from the other hall.

"I sent out some of our reprogrammed Oculusmon, and got them to do a bit of scouting. It's an ice-bird digimon that's causin' this stuff fer sure," the giant reptile explained, "Worser still, the sky is full of the stuff... I reckon' at this rate, we're in fer a snow storm. For whatever reason, it's been holdin' off on making the snow fall, though, and I ain't been able to get a track on it... it could be anywhere by now."

"Right, first thing tomorrow, everyone that's able to is going out scouting for this ice-bird. This smacks of trouble," Skye instructed, folding her arms across her chest. "We need to get to the bottom of whatever's going on up there, before whatever's gonna happen, well... happens."

"Right, I guess this means we grab whatever weapons we can, and get all our supplies ready... you know, in-case it really does snow-storm out there," Skyler called from his seat. All of the Resistance's digimon seemed to be psyching themselves up in readiness for what was to come.

Barghestmon, however, had a bad feeling that something terrible would happen, but chose to keep these feelings to himself.

* * *

><p>That night, at around midnight, the sky, which was heavily clouded over now, began to snow.<p>

High over the city, invisible to the people far below, the ice-bird digimon flew, the air surrounding it's body chilling to ridiculously low temperatures. Every cloud it passed, or flew through, began to snow all the more heavily.

With a single loud cry piercing through the darkness, the snow began to pick up, and before long, a blizzard had formed, beginning to bury the city under thick blankets of snow.

This was a blizzard; it didn't intend to stop calling down, until everything would resemble an Arctic wasteland.


	7. Hell Freezes Over

Episode 7. Hell Freezes Over

* * *

><p>Laelapmon looked around, shivering on the spot. It was cold, and she was alone, in a strange place.<p>

All around, it was pitch-black, the darkest night she'd ever experienced. Above her, the twinkling stars were the only light in this strange place, devoid of any other creature, or scenery. She found comfort in the stars, and focused on them, in an attempt to get her mind off of the overwhelming sense of dread and foreboding still growing in the pit of her gut.

Time seemed to tick on for eternity, before a change in the endless expanse of stars caught her attention, and had her reeling back in surprise. A giant red rift, full of swirling cosmic dust, ripped across the night sky, and what seemed to be four oddly placed suns, giant stars of fiery gold radiating out heat.

It's only when she looked again, did she realize it was a _giant face_ in the sky glaring down at her, the giant, jagged red mouth seemed to form a swirling vortex that was trying to draw her in, as the whole sky seemed to distort and warp and bulge out towards her... the sky literally beginning to descend down over her, the rift-mouth making a gut-wrenching cry that made her feel horrified and ill.

Turning, she began sprinting off, every foot step leaving sparkling ripples on the black surface of wherever it was she was running on. It felt like she was wading through sticky treacle, or like her body was being weighed down on... It took all of her willpower just to keep running, until she seemed to run out of ground, and found herself plummeting over an invisible edge, into a vast, darkened void, which seemed to get brighter and brighter the further she fell...

Waking with a jolt, Laelapmon sat up, trembling all over violently. She was in Amy's room, still partially buried under the blanket, right where she'd crashed out asleep on getting home. Amy wasn't present, and the small dog digimon wondered why Amy was up so early, since it was still rather dark outside... and also why it was so cold inside the apartment.

She tried to shake the feelings of anxiety and paranoia that had happened in the dream... it had felt so real, in a way that had terrified her badly. But it was just a dream, or so she kept reminding herself as she started to untangle herself from the folds of the blanket. The little white digimon decided the best thing to take her mind off of the nightmare was to busy herself with other things.

Checking the clock, Laelapmon's suspicions were confirmed; it was around 5am in the morning. Amy never got up this early unless something was bothering her, or she had a bad night. Padding out, Laelapmon's first and foremost priority was to check on her partner.

"Amy...?" Laelapmon called, coming out into the lounge. Amy was sitting at the terminal built into the wall, D-Drive in hand. "What's going on?"

Amy looked over to her digimon, unable to hide her growing concerns. She'd drunk through two mugs of coffee to perk herself up and get warmed up. She was wearing at least two thick woolly sweaters and her heaviest coat, as well as two pairs of her warmest jeans and thick woolly socks and slippers just to stay warm.

"Sometime during the night, there was a heavy blizzard... the heaviest there's ever been. The news has been calling it a 'mini ice-age', and everyone is snowed in..." she murmured, pulling an extra chair up to the terminal for Laelapmon to sit on. As Laelapmon read the news report on the terminal, Amy continued keeping her updated. "The power only just came back on, it was out for hours... and the heating is still broke. The power and gas companies equipment failed because of the extreme weather... The water lines have actually frozen over..."

Laelapmon thought back to the previous day. The Resistance had mentioned something about the weather, too...

"Wait... Amy, didn't the Resistance say they were looking into this, too?" Laelapmon asked, looking from the screen to her partner. "They said they were investigating into it, or something?"

"Then as I suspected, this blizzard IS the work of a digimon..." Amy sighed, pulling her coat around herself some more. Even with the layers of clothing she'd built up, the cold was still too over-bearing inside the apartment. "I knew it... this weather is just too extreme and unnatural to be anything else. I had my suspicions because of just how sudden this was... Over the night, the snow just kept rapidly building up... the entire ground floor, the snow is up past the door... even if we could get out, we'd need to dig ourselves out just to get free."

Laelapmon felt nervous, and not just over the nightmare she'd had. What if the blizzard didn't stop? What if they couldn't get out? What if the heating never came back on? It was cold enough, but if it got any colder in here, Laelapmon feared the worst for Amy and the other residents.

"Nobody's been able to get out... we can only last so long in here..." Amy murmured. "I've been trying to contact the others, but they haven't responded yet..."

Both of them sat in silence, Amy trying over and over on her D-Drive fruitlessly trying to get through to someone - anyone - for help, and to see if they were okay. Eventually, Joey managed to pick up.

"Amy? I've been trying to get through for the past hour..." Joey's voice sounded through the speakers. He sounded tired, and his voice was shaky from the cold.

"Same here..." She replied. Finally hearing another person's voice in this nightmare seemed to bring her a little short-lived comfort. "I can't get through to Marina or Darren, either. The weather has caused the power to die, so that made the entire building is in security lock-down... We can't even leave... Even though the power is up, the doors are still locked up, and the metal shutters are over all the windows."

There came a short pause, where everyone was shivering in their freezing homes, before Joey managed to take a deep breath and respond.

"Don't worry about this, I've been cracking away at the security code all morning so that I can get to your side... with any luck, I'll be done soon, and I'll be over as soon as I can."

By time it was 7 am, a gruelling 2 hours after Laelapmon had first awoken to the mess of a situation, the door suddenly unlocked itself and slid open with a mechanical whirr and click, as a 'test'.

"My door opened on my end," Joey called out over the D-Drive, "if I did this correctly, yours should be open, too."

Amy stood up from her seat and went over, peering out into the hallway. Every other door was still closed. It was eerie and quiet in the halls, the only noise being the blustery icy winds outside, and there was chilled air seeming to pour in from the vents in the hall, which had her hastily retreating back inside.

"Mine is, too... but the others are closed." Amy replied, standing beside Laelapmon, and stroking one of her ears to help soothe them both from the anxious feeling that had been plaguing both for hours.

"It'd take me too long to open each and every door manually... besides, I think it would be safer on the other residents if they didn't go fleeing off into the streets... there's no telling what's out there right now." Joey murmured back in concern, rubbing his chin.

"You have the same thought? That a digimon is behind all of this?" Amy enquired. She felt certain this was beyond normal, it truly couldn't be anything other than a digimon, everything pointed to it being the work of one. Even the Resistance had been concerned about it enough to look into it, which had been proof enough.

"Yes... it couldn't be anything else, could it? We need to contact the others, and make some form of plan. This can't go on any longer, Amy, or everyone will be in grave danger, worser than we're in now... I'm coming over. Let's start strategizing."

* * *

><p>Everything was dark and empty at the city's largest airport. There were no employees, no tourists, no people at all.<p>

Out on the runway, the aeroplanes were parked and abandoned, buried under snow. The blizzard had ensured nobody at all would be at work today, or even leaving their homes.

In the largest, most open area near the waiting area where people would have waited for their flights, there were now amassed a sizeable group of digimon - enough to make a small army. There must have been no more than 100 in total, gathered in silence. Various icy digimon, mostly being SnowAgumon, SnowGoburimon, Frigimon and Mojyamon.

Ahead of the large group sat a snake woman, lounging sideways on a bench, her long serpentine tail sprawled out part-ways up the row of seats before trailing off onto the floor. Her green snake-like hair was constantly moving, the heads constantly peering around and always keeping watch, allowing her to see all around, even though her own eyes were covered by wrappings, except for a third eye on her forehead, which remained closed.

This was Medusamon, and she was the leader of this group of motley digimon, and she lay in waiting for her second-in-command to finish scrutinizing a map of the city nearby.

"Any ideas from where we go from here, sir?" a SnowAgumon asked said second-in-command standing at his side. The digimon he was addressing was the huge bird that had been responsible for burying the city under heavy snow, and ensuring their upcoming journey would go uninterrupted.

"We'll need supplies, of course." Sastrugamon, the large bird digimon, replied. His bright yellow eyes never once leaving the map. "We came through with barely anything to last us, after that damned Ikkakumon destroyed our last food storage hut..."

A Digital Gate had opened up in Medusamon's lair, back in the digital world. It had opened up right in the basement of her former fortress, and linked to an older and unused hangar that needed repairs right at the end of the runway, and had thankfully gone unnoticed by the humans. After scouting it out for a few days, she and Sastrugamon had hatched a plan to come through.

The Gate had been a blessing - a huge risk, but a blessing nonetheless - as it had allowed them to escape otherwise certain defeat, and death itself, where they had been in their last defence against the infected Ikkakumon that had single-handedly eradicated their otherwise large army down to absolutely pitiful numbers now.

The spread of the strange virus-like 'growth' had swallowed up the entire other-side of their mountain home, causing many surviving digimon not eaten up by the growing wave of darkness to seek shelter at their castle. Leaving the fortress was not an attractive option. At first, the pair had been planning to invade the neighbouring castle on the mountain range in the distance opposing theirs, to escape the steadily creeping threat behind them, and ensure more safety against the growing number of digimon who were slowly falling ill to the effects of having a 'dark zone' so close by... and then the worst had happened.

A digimon so far gone with infection it no longer seemed to be capable of rational thought or logic appeared and began destroying everything in sight. A siege had occurred, with many of their number fighting day and night at the gates trying to keep the ungainly beast at bay, those not dying in battle falling due to exhaustion or starvation; practically fighting their way to their graves.

As one barricade began to fall, another was hurriedly raised, everyone on their side getting pushed back. When there were hardly any digimon left to fight, everyone abandoned post, grabbed what they could, and retreated into the castle... but even the thick wooden doors weren't going to hold for long, as their tireless foe continued to ram and smash harpoon after harpoon at the doors. On the second day of being trapped inside the castle, the cracks were really beginning to show, and they felt on the dawn of the third and final day, it may have been the last any of them were to live... their followers were losing hope, and fearing the worst.

Sastrugamon had gone on the eve of the second day to hastily begin his freezing assault on the city, covering every inch he could reach under snow, as fast as he could, in readiness of their arrival. And on the third day, they seized the opportunity and ran with it- and now, here they were. Many of the troops were still in shock, starving and nervous from being in such an alien setting compared to home. And it was he and Medusamon's duty to see that their remaining followers were safe.

"This, right here!" Sastrugamon suddenly announced, tapping his beak against the map. He'd been reading the various 'hot spots' for tourists, since they tended to be big and important places, fit for huge numbers to visit, and he'd found the ideal spot for their group. "The largest shopping mall in the city. There should be plenty of things there for us to take for ourselves. Food, lodgings, equipment... if we're going anywhere, it would surely be wise to go here, no?"

The big bird seemed pleased with his find, but nearly jumped out of his feathery skin when he felt Medusamon rest her head against his wing, leaning right up against him. She seemed to relax more feeling his soft feathers against her smoother skin, considering that she'd been very stressed out previously.

"I knew you would find us a spot, my dearest Sastrugamon." she sighed, her voice soft and sweet. Her tone was normally sharp and icy towards the others, but around Sastrugamon, she was a much warmer creature. "You believe this 'mall' thing to be an oasis in this wretched city?"

Sastrugamon's snow-white face was now a very bright shade of pink, having his boss by his side like that. It was no secret with the rest of the forces that he was deeply inlove with Medusamon. He turned his head away shyly, before affirming his selection.

"Y-Yes, my lady Medusamon..." he began, coughing to clear his throat of his stammering, which always occurred without fail in her presence, "I know about some human things, and... their 'malls' are where they sell a great deal many useful things... clothes, food, equipment and other supplies... they are huge, as huge as our fortress perhaps, so our forces will have plenty of room... From there, we can figure our next course of action, how we will reach the islands out at sea for us to start over..."

"We should make a start on mapping out a good route, then..." Medusamon replied, looking over the map, tracing along a road with her finger tip. Sastrugamon glanced down at her, where he was much bigger, and nodded his head in agreement.

"F-First, my lady Medusamon... I think I should take a look around out there... the blizzard should've been strong enough to keep the humans out of the way, but there's the matter of... _that_ company."

He was of course referring to Arch Angel, and with nothing more to say, he set off. Medusamon, however, stayed behind, trying to plan the route to the mall. But knowing he was going to be spending time apart from her, keeping check of things from the sky, on his own, made her heart ache.

* * *

><p>"Kai." came the voice of Denimon, who was speaking rather low, into Kai's ear. "Kai, it's snowing."<p>

"Mmmh..." groaned the young man known as Kai. He shifted around more, so that his back was now facing Denimon, before he irritably mumbled a reply, trying to drift back to sleep before he was woken up any further,"Go away... do you have any idea what time it is...? I've got work in the morning..."

Kai briefly blinked at the digital clock on his wall just above his bed with bleary eyes and took in the time; 5 am precisely. Sighing in frustration, he slipped his eyes closed and hoped Denimon was done trying to pester him.

"I know that, Kai-cha." Denimon replied using an affectionate nickname of sorts in response, "but it's snowing really bad out, and Marina wants you to- Kai? Kai!"

The big blue dinosaur prodded the 20-something's shoulder, on not receiving any response at all, and aside from a soft grunt, Kai remained still. Several more proddings ended up causing Kai to pull the duvet up over his head, to dull the sharp jabs from Denimon's claws, and block out any more annoyance. He felt the best thing to do was to ignore the reptilian fiend and hopefully he would leave, however, this was not something that was going to happen, it seemed.

Denimon leaned forward, tugging the bedsheet down a bit, repeatedly calling out his name in his most annoying voice ever, since that usually worked. He wound up climbing up onto the bed, with it's heavy, stripy duvet and began to jump up and down on it.

"Kai! Kai! KaiKaiKaiKaiKaiKai_Kai_!" Denimon yapped, clapping his paws and stamping his feet, sending pillows bouncing around haphazardly across the mattress. Kai's eyes snapped open and before the irrepressible lizard even saw him coming, the disgruntled guy was on him, wrestling him about. After getting caught up in a headlock, Kai growled several expletives at him, and booted him off the bed.

"Disturb me again you little brat, and I'll kick your ass!" he growled, straightening up his bed before getting back in angrily and hiding his pale-haired head back under the covers.

Denimon rubbed his sore nose and neck, which ached from being wrestled, but he wasn't going to let this stop him. Creeping to the end of the bed, he lifted up the end of the duvet, exposing Kai's sensitive feet, which the sneaky dinosaur knew very well did not like being tickled. However, he was going to go beyond tickling and get both revenge, and a sure-fire way to wake the cafe-worker up for certain.

Licking his lizardy lips, Denimon leaned his head forward- and promptly began to lick the soles of Kai's feet.

"WAAAAARRRGGHHH!" Kai shrieked, jumping up like someone'd just dumped a scorpion on him, and fell right out of bed onto the floor, bumping the back of his head on the rug and taking half of his bedding with him. When his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, and he woke up properly, he was met with Denimon's crocodile-like face grinning down at him like a cheshire cat.

"Got you, Kai-cha." the dinosaur smirked, before beginning to tug on his tamer's brother's arm. "You gotta come downstairs, we're like, snowed in, and there's no heating!"

"Why the hell didn't you tell me this before?" Kai growled sorely, rubbing the back of his head. He seemed to suddenly register that it was pretty damn cold in here, now he was fully awake, and more aware of his surroundings.

"Because you're an ignorant pig-headed poop and kept ignoring me." Denimon replied, smirking once more. Kai sighed, refusing to take the bait for another argument, which usually occurred on a daily basis whenever the two were home at the same time. Kai did not like Denimon, and Denimon did not like Kai, and the two were always insulting one another, and using any excuse to have a fight... even if it drove Marina up the wall with stress.

* * *

><p>A little while later, Kai came downstairs, accompanied by Denimon. There'd been a second short-lived fight between the pair, of Denimon not understanding Kai's need for privacy on getting dressed, which had resulted in the 'free-loading snot-nosed brat' of a dinosaur getting wrestled and shut out of the easily-annoyed young man's bedroom so he could get dressed in peace.<p>

Marina was sitting with Darren, who had stayed over for the night, at their home terminal, both looking worried. Marina had been extremely late getting home due to a meeting with her manager, and Darren, who had kindly escorted her home, had wound up staying over since the weather had taken a turn for the worst, and Darren lived virtually on the other side of town. Both had been stressed out, where the manager was still not going to let them forget about their running out on Marina's VIP guests on the night of the concert, and had been with a hair-trigger temper since then.

Kai felt frustrated. He wanted to be the one she turned to, like in the past... but now, if things were bothering her, she either confided in Darren, or... the _creature_. He glared down at Denimon bitterly from the corner of his eyes, and growled slightly under his breath. Ever since the incident, back when he and Marina had been kids, Denimon had been with them ever since, and their lives had never been the same since.

"So, someone mind telling me what the hell's going on with the crazy weather?" he asked, breaking the tense silence that had been gripping the room. He was wearing one of the spare bathrobes in a bid to keep himself from feeling the freezing air that had hit him rather hard on waking up properly.

"The blizzard that came out of nowhere last night has practically buried everyone and everything inside. We can't open the front door because there's a wall of snow burying us in..." Darren called over, from where he was checking several things on the terminal. There must have been at least ten windows open displaying various news readings and reports.

"The power isn't exactly back, everything is pretty much dead. It took us ages setting up dad's spare power supply just to power the terminal..." Marina sighed, before shooting Kai a side-long glare, "if _someone_ had bothered to come down sooner, say, _someone_ who _knew_ how to set up the power supply, we could've got up and running sooner..."

Kai seemed slightly taken aback by her frustrated tone, his already annoyed mood dipping down into frustration. Denimon seemed to instinctively back off from his side, to avoid becoming the target of a further clobbering.

"Hey, I didn't know, okay? I only just found out about this crap just now!" he growled back, in an increasingly annoyed tone. However, on seeing Marina's expression change to one suggesting guilt for having had a go at him, he hastily made the effort to calm down. He didn't want to explode at his sister, now was not a good time for arguments. "...What are you guys doing on there, anyway? What's so important you used the power supply for the terminal, instead of like, the kitchen, or the something?"

Both of the tamers paused from checking the news, and looked at each-other awkwardly. Due to Kai's deep-seated loathing of Digimon, and what they were about to tell him, they instinctively felt, would not go down well.

"We... needed to get in contact with some of our friends..." Darren mumbled, finding it difficult to keep eye contact with the other male.

"U-Uhh... the ones we met recently, at the cafe near the concert hall..." Marina muttered, stammering slightly in nerves. She had been only half-facing Kai, where she'd been following the information on the screen, and trying to bury her nervousness over this inevitable confrontation, "A-Amy and Joey, t-the ones with..." she could feel her voice growing softer and more strained, "t-the ones with th-the _Digimon_... b-because, we discussed this, a-and only a D-Digimon could cause something this b-bad... a-and we were going to t-try to find a way to stop it..."

The following outburst from her short-tempered older brother almost made it seem as though his anger would cause the very house to come down around them from the impossibly aggressive snarl that escaped his lips.

"WHAT?" He shrieked, and in no time at all, had crossed the room, an taken a hold of Marina's shoulders, turning his younger sister around to face him. She froze, all the colour seeming to drain from her already pale face on seeing the absolute intense fiery rage building up in his eyes, as his face steadily flushed so red with anger she thought he'd turn purple.

"What the HELL did I tell you about this, Marina?" He yelled, shaking her roughly, "Do you seriously not care about your safety? I told you to stop getting involved with these creatures, and anyone that has anything to do with them! If there's really more people out there, then let THEM deal with this crap! I won't have you doing this, putting your life on the line for such stupid and reckless reasons!"

Marina was trembling, shaking all over both from his grip on her shoulders, and her growing guilt and upset on being grilled mercilessly like this by her sibling. Her vision had grown so blurry from tears she could barely make his face out any more, where everything had gone misty.

Darren had been trying to hold back, but on seeing and hearing all this, and Marina's growing visibly more and more upset by this, could stay out of things no longer. Standing, he pushed Kai back, and stood between the pair defensively.

"Kai, please, calm down." Darren instructed the other, still anger-consumed male, whilst placing a hand reassuringly on Marina's shoulder, "That's enough."

"Don't butt in, Darren!" Kai snarled back angrily, balling up his fists. Marina caught sight of this, and his increasing aggression, and clung to Darren's arm fearfully; she had visions of her brother trying to smash Darren's jaw in. It would be the first time her elder sibling had beaten someone up over her, either. "You're a bad influence on her, what the hell kinda bodyguard are you, anyway? Actively going out with her on these stupid 'monster hunts'? You should be encouraging her away from that dangerous stuff!"

"Now, you listen here-" Darren started, stepping forward. Kai seemed to be implying that he did not care for Marina, or take his duties, both as her bodyguard, and her friend, or her safety, seriously.

"Please stop this!" Marina yelled, this time being the one to place herself between the pair, "Stop it right NOW!"

She stared tearfully from one to the other. Both were breathing rather deeply, Kai's coming out more shuddery from his already very angered state. The pair of them continued to stare each-other down angrily, glaring intensely, with Marina still trying to shield one from the other.

"Kai... please, this is so serious... I don't do these things because I _have_ to, but because I _want_ to..." she murmured insistently, trying to keep her voice soft and calm, "People could be hurt, or die, if we ignored wild digimon appearances, or just assume that just because there are 'other tamers' that they will step in... you know that's not the case, or else we wouldn't even need to do it in the first place..."

Kai backed off, still glaring, and still red-faced from frustration. He leaned off against the wall, his arms folded defensively across his chest, avoiding their gazes. Denimon and Elfinmon ducked back behind the sofa, which the pair had retreated behind the moment things had kicked off, for fearing of making things escalate even worser than they had, considering most times, just the sight of them goofing off or being too close by set him off.

Marina carefully approached her older brother and stood before him, peering up at his face. She wiped the tears from her eyes, and took hold of his hands in hers, clasping them tight, her thumbs affectionately stroking across his fingers soothingly.

"This time, especially of all times, we can't sit out... we can't assume things will 'just get better'... a digimon has caused this blizzard, and everyone is at risk, all the time it's out there..."

Kai seemed to be letting this all sink in, and the anger in his expressing slowly dissipating away, and being steadily replaced by growing fear and worry.

"Because what if it doesn't go away...? Then what? This blizzard will worsen, and people will begin freezing to death, trapped in their homes... this can't go on, Kai... we have the means to stop it, so we choose to, for everyone and everything we hold dear..." Marina finished, moving in to hug her brother.

Darren crossed his own arms, watching carefully, if just to be sure Kai wasn't going to fly off the handle. Instead, Kai seemed to hesitantly wrap his arms around Marina, and cling onto her tightly.

"G-God dammit, Marina..." Kai murmured, resting his chin on the top of her head, "I just... why does it have to be _you_? I don't... I don't want anything to happen to you..."

He kissed her forehead, and the two held on together a little longer, overcome with their emotions. Darren approached, and patted Kai's shoulder reassuringly.

"Kai..." Denimon suddenly spoke up, approaching from he and Elfinmon's spot from behind the sofa. Kai stared down at him in silence, as the big blue dinosaur stood before them.

"Kai-cha, I've been with you two since you were both real young... and I've always protected Marina, and you." He started, bowing his head humbly, "I love Marina, very much, and I always will. As long as I can be by her side, I won't ever stop loving, or protecting her. She's my family, just as much as she is yours, you know! So... please have a little more faith in all of us?"

Kai said nothing, for a brief time. Marina eventually pulled back, standing beside Denimon. She placed her hand on Denimon's head and patted him affectionately. She trusted in Denimon completely, and always had done, since their very first meeting together... but that same meeting had left Kai completely distrustful, and with a hatred of digimon that had lasted all these years, up to now. It was evident he could never like digimon, but she needed him to trust in at least Denimon... he was her partner, after all, and very important to her.

"What... what do you plan to do, then?" Her brother asked, straightening back up, "I can't... stop you from going, but like you said, if you guys don't do anything, then..." he dreaded to think of the outcome if nobody bothered to intervene.

"We're going to meet Amy and Joey, and try to take down the Digimon causing the blizzard..." Darren spoke up. Elfinmon had bounded over to his side, and clambered up him like a cat to cling to his shoulders. "That's the only way this will stop. We discussed this, and it seems like there's no other option."

Neither Marina nor Darren had been told about the Resistance. Amy and Joey did not want to give them any false hope, in-case the Resistance ended up unable to stop this mess themselves, let alone turn up to fight for the city, and since they had no way of contacting them, wouldn't be able to confirm anything.

"Fine, then." Kai sighed huffily, glancing aside, "I'll let you go, but on one condition..."

"What's that?" Marina inquired, gazing up at him curiously,

"You take me with you."

* * *

><p>It was now around 8am, and everyone was just now leaving. Around half seven, Joey and Amy had managed to make contact with them, and everyone had made the plan of the others coming over to help get Joey and Amy out of the apartment block, and everyone head off from there to take down the threat.<p>

Everyone was currently exiting the house in a rather unique way, wearing the warmest winter-wear they could find.

"It's not too late to change your mind, Kai..." Marina murmured, as Darren helped her down the last steps of the ladder.

The front door and downstairs windows are covered by hardened snow, and too much time would have been wasted trying to dig their way out. Instead, Kai went down to the basement and retrieved a ladder, hauling up onto the top floor, and setting it down out of the landing window, which opened up furthest and had the most space to let everyone through.

"No, don't even try to talk me out of this. Besides, if the heating is out, I'll freeze inside, anyway. At least this way, if I come too, we've got more supplies because of having an extra pair of hands, right?" Kai replied, lowering down the second of three sports bags down. They'd geared up like they'd been prepping for an actual mission in the Arctic, rather than a travel through town. They'd be forgiven for this, though, considering the entire city right now might as well have been the Arctic, for the harsh, frozen, barren streets, devoid of any life at all, and freezing cold.

"You don't even have a digimon to protect you..." Marina argued back, now taking her turn to help Kai down the last few steps. He had the last bag slung across his back, and something else currently tucked under his arm.

"I don't need a digimon to protect me, I can protect myself, see?" her big brother grinned, pulling the baseball bat from out of his arm. He didn't play it much, any-more, but it had been autographed by one of his favourite players, and it was a metal alloy bat, very strong, and very durable, and he felt it would suffice as a weapon. "I have this nice sturdy bat!"

"Ehehehehe..." Elfinmon giggled from behind Daren, "Kai-cha will really fight off digimon with that bat?"

The little green fox-like digimon and his dinosaur companion both burst into a fit of giggles, trying to imagine Kai fending off champion level digimon with a mere metal baseball bat, like some proud hero.

"Kai-cha sucks at baseball, he's too shy to even reach 'second base' with his cute manager at work!" Denimon commented, making light of poor Kai's working relationship with his manager at the café, which made the young waiter's face flush red in anger and shame, and had him bonk Denimon on the head with the tip of the bat. "Owwie!"

"That's what you guys will get if you piss me off !" Kai snapped, pointing the bat from Denimon to Elfinmon, to get the point across more. Both digimon squeaked and hid behind Darren, who sighed, but managed a little smile.

"Aww, that's no fair, though, besides, you're already pissed off!" Elfinmon dared to reply, peering out from behind Darren's leg. He squealed like a piglet on getting a bop in response to this, and then almost knocked Darren over trying to hide underneath Denimon.

"Shuddup!", came the final growl from Kai's mouth. He glared sorely off to the side, folding his arms. Marina was checking through the supplies one last time before everyone would set off into the frozen wastes of the formerly bustling metropolis of Neo Tokyo... or at least, what was still visible of most of it.

"Right, we've got dad's spare first aid kit, a roll of bandages, dad's spare torch and compass, some blankets, food, flasks of water, our D-Drives, Kai's PDA, dad's swiss army knife...", the idol singer muttered, mostly to herself, before zipping the last bag back up and straightening up, "We should have enough food and water to last us a few days, weather permitting, that is..."

"How long do you think we'll be out here for? Or how long do you think it'll be to take down the digimon responsible for this crap?" Kai enquired, sounding concerned.

"We can't say. Nothing that's happened before has happened on this scale..." Darren spoke up, where he'd been keeping check on the digimon pair, who were currently playing patty-cake off to one side, "I'm guessing that whatever caused this is strong, or didn't come in alone."

Kai and Marina both looked up. They hadn't taken into consideration that there could be more than one digimon causing this, and given the wide area of effect, it seemed a bit over-blown and thorough for one single digimon to need this much city covered in snow... not that any of them had even the faintest inkling of reasoning behind this attack on civilization, but piecing theories together, it truly didn't make sense for one digimon to be doing this much just for itself.

"Great, so you're telling me there could be, hell, I don't know... gangs of them about?" Kai replied, rubbing the back of his head. Darren lifted up one of the bags, the one with food, up and hung the strap over his shoulder, so as to stop the digimon from keep pestering him for snacks or enquiring when it was time to eat.

"More or less," Darren replied bluntly. He passed the bag with the folded up double bed sized blanket to Marina. It had been a miracle they'd found a bag big enough to fold over and squash the blanket inside, but in-case they needed to crash out somewhere, they needed to have some way of keeping warm besides trying to light a fire.

"Are you really sure you want to go through with this, Kai?" Marina asked her older sibling, looking over her shoulder, as she and Darren were starting to head out, "I won't hold it against you if you back out, you know. This... isn't a game... I know that. But I just worry, where you don't have a partner digimon..."

Kai stooped and picked up the last bag, slinging it over his back. He was determined to stick by them, and help protect his sister in any way, and if there was going to be more than one digimon on the loose, he wasn't going to sit in an empty, cold home, wondering if they were alright, or what was happening.

"Well, you can stop worrying, because regardless, I'm coming along." the elder of the pair called, jogging through the snow to catch up with them. "And there isn't any digimon out there that'll make me change my mind!"

Denimon and Elfinmon both sniggered behind him, before Kai shot them a fiery glare over his shoulder, causing them both to squeak and promptly zip it. Marina giggled up ahead. Despite the anxiety growing inside her, she felt somehow more at ease with her brother's confidence in them all, rather than before, where he seemed consumed with worry and doubt.

But they needed to get this done; to meet with Amy and Joey, and then track down the culprit of the weather phenomenon and put an end to it.

* * *

><p>It was mid-day, now. It had begun to snow again, but not as heavily as it had been before. The small trio of humans and two digimon were checking the D-Drive's city map as best they could make out, for what felt like the umpteenth time today.<p>

"I'd say another two or three hours walking and we should be right outside Amy's apartment." Darren commented, shifting slightly where he'd been lugging a heavy bag over the same shoulder since they'd left.

"Ugh!" Kai cried in dismay, "Why'd you have to have friends that live on the other side of the known universe _right_ when we need them most, huh?"

Marina rolled her eyes at her brother's sarcastic remark and tutted her tongue at him, something he hated. She closed the map on her own D-Drive and picked her bag back up, pointing off towards the south east, using the compass for direction.

"If we keep going this way, we should virtually bump right into the building," she explained, leaning against Kai's shoulder, and looking up at him with a small smirk, "Sure you can handle the trip until then?"

Kai glared sorely down at his sister, but did not come back at her with a snappy retort, instead choosing not to take the bait. Just as everyone began to start off again, the two digimon, who had been doing nothing but goofing off and messing around in the snow, decided to take their antics to a whole new level.

Kai was the butt of the joke once more, as he felt himself get smacked in the back of the head by a rather solidly-made snowball, which got all over most of his hair and down the back of the neck of his jacket.

"_DENIMON_!" He yelled, turning on his heel and pointing angrily at the blue dinosaur, "I KNOW that was you, just then! You're the only one with paws that can grip and mould stuff!"

Denimon rubbed his chin, cocking his head to the side, looking a picture of innocence. But the disgruntled cafe-worker knew different. The devious little dinosaur was beginning to push all the wrong buttons right now, and took glee in every instance where he 'rustled Kai's jimmies'.

"What~? Did something happen, Kai-cha?" Denimon asked, in a sweet little voice, batting his eyes at Kai, claws clasped together against his reptilian chest, "My, my, you're so cute when you're angry!"

"You won't find me cute when my foot is embedded right up your stupid little a-" Kai growled, before being cut off, as a snowball flung from Elfinmon caught him square in the jaw, giving him a mouth full of icy cold snow.

"You were saying about me not being able to throw snowballs?" the naughty little green swamp-fox called, before he and Denimon started dancing around like little savages, high-fiving each-other victoriously. However, both the digimon's laughter turned to squeals of fright when their angry snow-covered victim began dashing towards them, brandishing his baseball bat.

"Kyaaah! Maririn! Help! Kai-cha has turned into a digimon-batting psychopath!" Denimon yelped, stumbling through the snow in a squeaky-panic, "I'm too cute and blue to die!"

"I have so much to live for, me and Deni-den-den haven't eaten the gut-buster mega-sandwich from Burger Palace yet!" Elfinmon added, constantly bashing into Denimon by accident from the side.

Kai managed to jump both Denimon _and_ Elfinmon at the same time, and all three began play-wrestling in the snow, kicking up clouds of white all around them. Darren and Marina were forced to stop, with Marina already rapidly getting impatient with the trio's lack of tolerance towards one another, before anger finally got the better of her, and she yelled at them, tying to keep them in line.

"For goodness sake! I've seen CHILDREN behave better than you three! God help you, if I have to come over there, and- mmmph?" it was apparantly Marina's turn to receive a snowball to the jaw.

"Aww, put a sock in it, sis. We're just messing around," Kai grinned, from where he was laying on his back with Denimon straddling his chest with Elfinmon running his paws through his hair. Both digimon began giggling again and complimented Kai on hitting the bullseye.

Darren turned, grinning, to focus instead on the street signs. Someone had to pay attention, after all. Just as he concluded that it would be wise to take a turning down this street to make for a short cut, he heard another yell from the trio, and turned, just in time, to catch Marina carrying what amounted to a boulder of snow above her head and crossly dumping it down on-top of the mischievous three who had used up all her patience.

As everyone dusted themselves down from the brief snowball fight, Darren spotted something that made him shiver, more than the chill air around them. Gesturing at the others, who hurried over he pointed ahead, at something large and unmistakeable in the middle of the road ahead, a series of gigantic footprints.

"Well now, what do you make of that, then?" Darren asked, as everyone nervously and curiously approached the large, flat footprint. It was round and disk-like, almost, with three large claw marks up front, with the snow between each print rough, powdery and entrenched, as if something very big and hairy had dragged itself through.

"I have no idea at all..." Marina replied, walking around the tracks, studying them as they passed. She could sense Kai becoming increasingly nervous, he'd never seen paw prints of this size before, and it was making him understandably very tense. She hung back, until he nearly bumped into her, seemingly lost in thought. "Are you alright...?"

"Honestly? No... No, I'm not alright..." Kai mumbled to her, keeping close. He'd drawn his bat again, but now, metal alloy or not, he realized how feeble it would be to try to fight something off as big as the impression these prints gave. "Have you... Have you guys fought anything as big as this before?"

"Yes, we have..." Marina replied. She thought back to the previous fights she and Darren had been in, with their partners fighting stuff that was bigger than most people could ever imagine, the ShogunGekomon coming to mind. She remembered the help they'd received that night, and added, "But our digimon, the ones on our side, and those of our friends... they're capable of getting just as big, too. You remember Denimon's digivolution, at least?"

Kai nodded, but did not vocally voice a reply. He remembered Marinemon, alright. A few times growing up, they'd called on his abilities, when digimon had wound-up in their neck of the woods, so to speak. But this was before he'd found out his sister had been sneaking off by herself with Denimon and purposefully tracking down wild digimon... something she had been doing since the age of twelve, and hadn't stopped since.

"We'll be fine, I promise. We'll get Amy and Joey, and we'll be sorted, okay?" Marina and Darren had yet to be informed that Laelapmon had unlocked her ability to digivolve, so was not filled with the greatest confidence. Dvergamon would be alright, surely, but poor Laelapmon... she remembered Amy and Laelapmon's grief during the fight with ShogunGekomon. Amy hadn't said much, but she knew it was uncomfortable for the pair.

Up ahead, the digimon were doing an investigation of their own.

"Deni-den-den," Elfinmon mewled, padding about Denimon in circles, whilst Denimon stooped low and sniffed each print, "What do you think it is? Is it a Tyrannomon? Is it? Hmmm... could it be Monzaemon?"

"Don't be silly, Elfin-buddy-boo!" Denimon chuckled, without looking up, "It's not the right shape, or size, for them. It smells... like fish. Water... fishy-water."

Elfinmon blinked at Denimon a few times, then lowered his head and took a deep, obnoxiously noisy sniff against the embedded print, before pulling back, holding his nose in disgust. Denimon looked up, to see what his thoughts were on the scent-trail.

"Well, I smell something, alright!" Elfinmon commented, wrinkling his little button nose, "I smell the smelly smell of something that smells smelly!"

After a period of following tracks, a second trail showed up, which caused everyone alarm. It was snowing again, gradually getting steadily stronger, and now, everything seemed to be getting swallowed up in a thick fog which was spreading over the ground.

"Just as we thought, there's more than one digimon out here!" Marina announced, pointing at the second trail, "these seem fresher, and deeper, where they haven't set in properly yet, unlike the other ones."

These new, second pair of prints were a lot more obvious to figure out. They were, without a shadow of a doubt, the undeniable shape of a bird's talons, but on a grander scale, and not as big as the first set of prints. They went from one corner, up along side the first prints, then vanishing around a second corner.

"Something seems real off about this..." Darren murmured, everyone huddling together nervously, at the new discovery. "We get closer to this area, the snow starts up, a fog rolls in, and now, fresh prints..."

"Maybe we're getting close by to the digimon causing the weather..." Marina murmured, staring about. Everything seemed ghostly, almost like they were on the verge of stepping into another world entirely, "It's like something out of a horror story, you know? People going missing in the fog..."

"S-Shut up..." Kai muttered, shivering more. He pulled his fleece-lined jacket around himself more, and shifted his bag over to the other shoulder, standing in more closer to the others. "This is creepy enough as is, without you adding to it, sis..."

The band of explorers followed the second set of tracks, and noticed that the first set just faded off into nothing, completely lost in the brewing snowstorm. It was getting difficult to make anything out, now, and they were having to pick up their feet more to make any form of progress in the increasingly bad weather.

They were now standing at what was formerly a traffic island in the middle of a roundabout, one solitary street lamp in the centre being the only consistently strong light. The shadows of buildings looming high through the foggy streets stood like colossal phantoms, and aside from the faint glow from other street lamps, it seemed grey and gloomy.

A bright flash through the sky, the only colours in this dull, white and grey landscape, caught the attention of everyone present. A glowing trail, almost like an aurora Borealis, shining beautifully in the misty skies.

Marina gasped, awe-struck, her voice caught in her throat. Looking at it, something so colourful and magnificent, painting the sky in a dazzling wave of shifting colours, made her feel emotional, and reaching for Darren's hand, gave it a squeeze.

Darren, who had been staring along with her, was briefly distracted by her sudden hold on his hand, and felt his cheeks pinkening, the sudden rush of warmth to his face in the icy air making the skin of his face tingle.

"An aurora..." Kai breathed, from Marina's other side, "Now I know we can't be on earth any-more... we don't get auroras here..."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that, Kai-cha..." Denimon murmured darkly.

Everyone managed to tear their gaze off of the aurora to stare down at the two digimon, who were responding very strangely to the sky phenomenon.

Denimon and Elfinmon's pupils had become almost catlike, Denimon's head raised as if getting ready to strike, and Elfinmon's fur bristled up, as he let out a soft hiss. Both were completely on edge, and staring straight off down the road ahead. Their senses were stronger than the human trio's, and so they'd picked up on something much faster than they had.

"W-What is it, Elfinmon?" Darren asked, kneeling, beside his digimon, whose back was now arched like a cat's, his tail held high with every hair standing on end.

"Down that street... it's arrived..." Elfinmon hissed cryptically, and before anyone could stop them, he and Denimon were dashing through the snow, down the specified street.

Panicking, everyone began stumbling after them, staggering through the build up of snow, until they saw multicolour light shining through the fog, drawing them forward, guiding them ahead towards their fated encounter.

Everyone came halting to a stop in the middle of a deserted street. The tops of cars and vans stood out of the snow, as more flakes flurried down overhead. On a low building before them, perched on the roof, looking over the crossroads before them, stood a giant, white and blue bird, with a flowing crest of white hair, flowing out behind him. He flapped his wings slightly, snow seeming to flow and circle around him; the snowfall was without a doubt thickest around him.

His glowing gold eyes were matched in brightness only by the rainbow-coloured aura surrounding his immaculate form, and he looked majestic, intimidatingly so. The humans seemed to forget at first that he was responsible for the mess the city was in, where his ethereal appearance had them momentarily captivated.

A snarl from Denimon broke the silence that had fallen over the street, where both sides had been staring each-other down, sizing the other up, and the giant white bird regarded the trio of humans and their digimon coolly, with his burning, golden eyes.

"Guys, quickly, digivolve!" Marina urged, the moment Sastrugamon spread his wings out wide.

Two towering collumns of light burst upwards from the two rookies, shooting straight up towards the sky, briefly dispelling the clouds overhead, in towers of light that could be seen from afar, even with the fog cover.

"Denimon, digivolve to...!"

"Elfinmon, digivolve to...!"

The deafening roar of energy echoing down the empty streets managed to drown out even the growing wind, as data wrapped around both digimon that were rapidly changing size. Denimon's anatomy quickly shifted from his normal dinosaur anatomy to Marinemon's more upright, humanoid anatomy.

Elfinmon grew out his long, fin-like ears and wings, becoming much bigger, but still sleek and graceful. When the light collumns subsided, after bursting apart in a dazzling flash, the two newly formed champions stood where the rookies had previously been, still wrapped in a slowly fading aura of coloured light, as the pair announced their new forms.

"Marinemon!"

"Elvermon!"

Sastrugamon had already taken to the sky, and was circling overhead. Elvermon opened his mouth and shot out his long tongue, straight up at the great snow bird.

"Mire Whip!"

Sastrugamon felt the sticky appendage wrap around his leg, firm and tight, and began pulling down forcibly hard. Struggling to maintain flight, he began to lose altitude, and tugged as hard as he could; it was now becoming a tug of war match between the pair.

Marinemon rushed, grabbing onto Elvermon's tongue also, attempting to help pull down their opponent.

Sastrugamon let out an aggressive shriek, before suddenly using his talons to grip onto Elvermon's tongue, and then flew up high, all the muscles in his body straining to pull up the pair from off the ground, and miraculously enough for him, succeeded. He flipped around, performing a loop-de-loop, swinging the pair around with him, causing them both to cry out.

As the loop finished its turn, Sastrugamon released them, sending them hurtling down towards the snow-covered ground so hard that both digimon left sizeable craters in the frozen ground from the impact.

"Marinemon!" Marina yelled, dashing over to the craters in desperation, with Darren right behind her.

"Elvermon! Are you alright?" Darren yelled down, into the pit. Both the tamers, along with Kai, who had been rooted to the spot in shock watching the battle unfold, finally catching up to them.

Marinemon and Elvermon groaned, painfully pulling themselves up, with Marinemon using his polearm to steady himself. Overhead, Sastrugamon was still on the move, and still silent and focused; no cocky quips or insulting remarks, like their previous foes.

"Urgh... it's difficult to reach him, when he's up so high..." Elvermon groaned, rubbing his nose from the fall. He shook snow off of himself, and in turn, accidentally sprinkled the others present in clumps of snow.

"I can't even reach him at all..." Marinemon muttered, feeling useless. He had no projectile or long-distance attacks, and since he had no means to achieve aerial combat, was effectively confined to just melee on the ground.

"Elvermon, why don't you try shooting him down with Elver Bullets?" Darren suggested, as Sastrugamon finished positioning himself, "A-And do it quick, he's going to attack again!"

The jewel on Elvermon's forehead began to glow, before he spewed out foul-smelling globs of swamp mud, straight up into the air. Sastrugamon dodged swiftly, but the last round caught him in the right wing, gumming the feathers up. The great white bird began to plummet down towards the ground, letting out an aggravated cry.

During his descent, Marinemon seized the opportunity to strike a blow. Sprinting out of the crater, he used his Guan Dao to polevault up high into the air, meeting Sastrugamon on the way down, raising the blade-ended staff over his head.

"Breaker Blade!" the blue dragon-warrior yelled, before bringing it down, slashing into Sastrugamon's chest. With a howl of agony, the crested bird digimon was sent flying, smashing into the ground, and going skidding back several feet, snow being sent up in cloud trails after him.

The human trio held their breath, Marinemon landing down on his feet, weapon at the ready, just infront of them. Elvermon stood at his side, the pair forming a guard to protect their partners, all eyes fixed on the great bird's fallen form.

After a moment's silence, Sastrugamon began to stir. Shaking, he got to his feet, clumps of snow and slush dripping down his body and wings. His gold eyes burned with rage, glaring down the street at them; and just as his foes began to rush towards him, he held his head high, and opened his beak, as the strange rainbow-coloured aura grew and danced around his damaged form.

"AURORA BLAZE!"

This was the first for the entire battle the blizzard-digimon had spoken, and a beam of multicoloured light burst from his open mouth, blazing towards the group. Snow went flying up, the powerful energy blast leaving a deep indent in the ground as it passed, causing the windows of the vehicles parked in the street to shatter, and those directly in it's path to become crushed effortlessly.

Marina was frozen in shock, and to her, it felt like time had stopped. Darren had already gotten out of the way, and realized too late that she hadn't followed him. He screamed at her to get out of the way, but it didn't register in her mind.

She finally seemed to come to her senses when she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her tightly, her brother flinging himself bodily into her, trying to throw them both out of the way, the two digimon huddling close, trying to form a tight shield against the on-coming beam.

The light grew so bright that the digimon in-front became silhouetted, before seemingly swallowed up whole, and for the siblings, the entire world was lost in a sea of white.

* * *

><p><em>Marina slowly opened her eyes. It was dark, and silent, aside from the feeling of water rushing around her ears. Bubbles rose up around her, an somewhere above her, light was filtering down, fractured through the roughened surface of the water.<em>

_A shadow passed overhead. Was it a boat, or something else? She didn't know, and right now, she didn't care._

_The water was frothing up behind her, muffled sounding, but fierce. The dark blue atmosphere that surrounded her began to grow cloudy and red with blood. Her half-lidded eyes snapped open, as she felt a growing sense of fear and panic setting in, reality hitting her hard, like she was being slammed into a brick wall._

_She couldn't breathe. _

_Staring fearfully up, she began clawing at the surface, flailing desperately with one hand, the other clutching at her throat. It hurt, everything hurt, her head, her throat, and her chest. The light above began to grow faint, and the frothing, hissing water behind her sounding far away._

_This was it. She was going to die._

* * *

><p>Darren was on his knees, furiously clawing at the mountain of snow that had buried his friends. His forehead was bloody, and part of his jacket sleeve had been torn, shards of glass from the window of a car he'd dived behind sticking out slightly; but he was so cold and numb, and consumed with worry, to care about that right now.<p>

Elvermon was at his side, barely conscious, and unable to lift his head much. He watched Darren desperately trying to find the others, in total silence.

Finally, something blue poked through the snow; it was part of Marinemon's back. Darren sped up, unearthing more and more of the buried digimon, and with this, spotting Kai and Marina's jackets throwing the snow and debris.

Marinemon's arms were wrapped around the pair tightly, and in turn, Kai's arms wrapped around Marina, with her head buried into his chest. Marinemon was breathing roughly, likely from shock and relief at being alive. Kai was in the same state.

"Oh my god..." Darren gasped, unable to keep the shaking out of his voice, repeating himself several times from shock, himself, "Oh my god... oh my _god_... Kai, Marinemon..."

Marinemon groaned in a low voice, shifting painfully. He and Elvermon both felt like they'd been hit by trucks. Marinemon's arms were so stiff and sore, he seemed as though he'd be perpetually locked with his arms closed around the pair he had shielded forever, but with a strain, managed to painfully prize himself off of them.

"She's u-unconcious..." Kai stammered, barely able to focus, himself. Marina wasn't responding, and seemed as though she'd passed out, knocked out from the blast. "Please, we need to get some place safe..."

"There's some stores down from here... we should take shelter in there..." Darren suggested. He felt terrible for having not been the one to protect Marina, considering his duty towards her as her bodyguard, and her friend.

He carried her in his arms, where Kai was too weakened from the numbing cold from being buried under a heap of snow, and the digimon were barely keeping up. Nobody had said a word the entire route up the road.

Sastrugamon himself was long gone; after his attack, he had stopped to catch his breath, still hurt from his crash, but after picking the sticky mud off of his feathers and straightening himself up, he'd taken flight, and was likely clear out of the area. He'd seemed desperate to leave, for some reason, even though he'd won- hell, the entire blast had seemed one big desperation attack from him, and he hadn't hung about to check if he'd finished them off.

Maybe he was sure they had perished, or maybe he hadn't cared, but either way, he'd paid Darren no attention when the young man's shock had set in, and he'd gotten a grip on himself and rushed out to free the others from the snow-covered prison.

On reaching the store, Marinemon smashed open one of the half-covered windows, crawling on through. Darren lowered Marina's unconcious body down to him, and Marinemon held her in his arms firmly, his helmet hiding his watery eyes; he felt he had failed her, despite putting his life on the line with Elfinmon for her and Kai's safety.

Kai entered next, followed by Darren. Elvermon was too big to fit through, and the digivolution power, despite his injuries, did not seem to fade, likely because both digimon were too worried about their partners to dare to give in to losing their energy now.

The boys set about looting some supplies in the store, managing to find a health and medical care aisle. Marinemon was sitting over in the corner, having taken some spare blankets from a bedding section and had Marina resting on them. He refused to budge from her side, keeping watch.

Kai's expression was unreadable, he seemed upset, angry... and yet blank, like his thoughts were so disorganized and unfocused. He was staring off into space, and wandering about slowly, lost in thought, muttering whenever he picked up the wrong items for their re-stocking.

He finally broke the silence, after Darren sat down, and the other had begun to carefully remove the glass shards from his arm. Darren was clearly going to need to go to a hospital for this wound, and receive stitches, but with the city at an absolute stand-still, this was not going to happen any time soon.

"I hate digimon..." Kai muttered, to nobody in particular.

Darren looked up at Kai, still unable to read his expression. His head was bowed, and his hair covered his eyes from view.

"I said I HATE Digimon, okay?" Kai suddenly snapped, raising his voice. He moved away, after removing the last glass shard, removing it less than carefully, and making Darren gasp in pain. He moved over to the counter, and began opening a box of rolled up bandages, and opening a cap on a bottle of water, his body tense from frustration.

Darren remained silent as Kai brought the stuff back over, cleaning Darren's wound carefully with the water. It poured down onto the floor, leaving watery-red puddles.

"All they do is cause destruction, and hurt people..." Kai murmured, his voice quietening some. His eyes looked misty, and dark, shadowed over from his hair and the lightless room.

"They're not all like that... Marinemon and Elvermon tried... they took the force of that hit, for you and her..." Darren replied, softly.

"Well, it wasn't good enough, was it?" Kai snapped back, beginning to tie on the bandages, "This... this happened before... ever since that damn day, back when we were kids... things have never been the same."

Darren sat in silence, Kai pausing briefly, the sounds of his roughened breathing being the only sound, until he continued.

"I haven't had a peaceful sleep, or lived a normal life, or gone through a single instance since they entered our damn lives, because I'm _fucking scared_, you know? The fact my little sister is running around out there, doin' dangerous crap like this... One day, she might not come home... And that... it _terrifies_ me, Darren..."

Finishing on the bandages, Kai pulled back, rubbing his arms. He sat down on the floor by the counter, and opened a second bottled water to drink, rubbing cold sweat from his forehead.

"Marinemon and Elvermon don't mean any harm, Kai... they really do have people's best interests at heart, and want to keep them safe, none more so than Marinemon for Marina..." Darren said, glancing over at the singer, still laying still, with Marinemon ever keeping watch. "It's not Marinemon's fault this has happened..."

"He's the reason she even gets into these situations, anyway!" Kai retorted, glaring across the way at Darren, coldly. "It's because of crap like this they even met, and it's because she 'bonded' with him, or whatever, back then, that means this stuff always, _always _happens..."

"And just what was it, that happened 'back then', that caused so much pain for you...?" Darren replied.

Kai suddenly stopped, a look of intense guilt spreading over his face. Darren's expression softened, as he went over.

"You're carrying a lot on your shoulders, Kai... a lot of pain..." he murmured down quietly, "I won't hold it against you, if you don't want to talk about it, but... we can't continue on through this, until you get your head cleared..."

Kai glanced aside sadly, leaning his arm on one knee, swirling the water around distractedly in it's bottle, contemplating what to do... should he tell Darren what happened, or not?

"I... I guess the first time was my fault..." he muttered, after a long pause between them both, "we were young, and being stupid, and... too hopeful..."

Taking a deep breath, Kai began to recount what happened, on the day things changed for them forever.

* * *

><p>"Stop crying, already! Geez, you're annoying... if you keep cryin', I'll turn around and take us right back, and you won't see Dad, alright?"<p>

Kai sighed, and continued to row. The beach was still in sight, and people could still be seen in the far-off distance, but they'd sailed out too far to swim back, now. Marina was sat before him, wearing her stripy blue swimsuit, sobbing quietly to herself. The deep sea, and the solitude this far out at sea was making her nervous.

"Come on now, Mari..." her big brother sighed, pausing from rowing to pat her on the head, and ruffle her hair. "You wanted to see dad, right? We're gonna come out and see him. I bet he's not more further out, we'll see his boat sure enough, okay?"

This was the second week their dad had been gone from home, out retrieving stuff from a new site he and the rest of his group of Salvagers had found, which had valuable stuff inside, which would be going to a museum for restoration. The pain of missing him had finally gotten the better of the pair, and during a trip to the artificial beach on an island made of restored land, with their neighbour, who had brought them along, the two had finally put the plan in action to sail away and find him.

"'K-'Kay..." Marina sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes. She laid down solemnly, gripping the edge of the boat, and just staring out over the water. Surprisingly, the sea was rather calm today. Kai had been keeping track of the weather all week, and following websites reporting on the sea, waiting for the perfect day they could leave, and today was that day.

"You want anything to eat?" He spoke up, as they drifted on. He patted a small container which had supplies that, naively, would truly only last them a few hours at sea, and not the 'week' they thought they would be travelling on for. They had not thought this through, but at this age, it hadn't occurred to them this was a reckless and dangerous voyage they were undertaking.

And at this stage, too late to turn back.

"Nah... I'm not hungry..." Marina sighed, still moping about on her end of the boat. She dipped her hand in the water, and then the other, until she had her arms from the elbows down hanging in the sea.

The sun overhead was blazing down hot, and both were warm. Because there was no wind, there was no sea breeze to keep them cool, either. Kai pulled out a chilled canteen and drank some water from it, wiping the sweat from his brow. A sudden splash made them both sit up; one of the oars he'd put down during his brief lapse in rowing had slid off the rim of the boat, and was now floating in the open seas.

"Aww!" Kai groaned. He swiped at the oar uselessly, but it was too far out. "Rrrgh! Great, now I gotta dive in and get it..."

Marina sat in silence, watching him. He stood up, and then dived off of the boat rather skilfully. She wasn't surprised, since he'd taken lessons from an early age, and had aspirations of swimming professionally, or becoming a coastguard some day. Marina on the other hand had always been slightly nervous around water, and had only last year learned to swim. She had always been too nervous to actually leave the shallows, and only ever got as far as the middle of the pool, where her feet still touched the floor, and she was up to her chin in water.

Kai broke the surface of the sea, holding onto the oar handle, treading water. He grinned at her as he swam over, and rested the oar inside the boat, joining it with the other.

"What are you gonna do now?" She asked meekly, her hands resting on her knees.

"Goin' for a little swim, what does it look like?" He replied, drifting past on his back as though he were a sea otter, "it's too hot to keep rowing right now, I need to cool off. You oughta come in, too, it's great!"

"U-Um.. n-no way..." she muttered, turning her nose up at his suggestion, "I wanna stay in the boat..."

"Hah, your loss, not mine." He smirked, before vanishing off underwater.

Marina grumbled and shifted in her seat. She waited for a little while, listening to the sound of gulls overhead. It suddenly occurred to her how alone she was, up here on the surface, and she didn't like it. Sighing, she leant down against the edge, and cupped her hands in the salt water, splashing and washing her sweaty, flushed face, to refresh herself.

Kai still hadn't surfaced, and she was getting worried about him, missing his presence.

"Kai?" she called out, looking all around, but he must have dove deep, because she couldn't spot him at all anywhere around the boat.

"K-Kai?" she called again, leaning over the edge, staring down hopelessly into the depths. "KAI!"

Tears began forming in the corners of her eyes. Where was he? What if something happened? Despite her fears, she was desperately tempted to dive into the deep, blue waters, to search for him.

Just then, he broke through the surface, right in-front of her, making he scream, and fall over backwards onto her backside. His arrogant laughter at having scared her made her burst into tears, her hands clasped against her chest, where her heart was pounding away in her chest from the nasty shock.

"Aww, did I scare you, Mari?" he smirked, grinning away at her. He carefully got back onto the boat, dripping wet.

"Y-You're so mean!" Marina sobbed, crying into her hands, "I thought something bad happened to you! Don't you dare scare me like that again, or I'll never forgive you!"

"I wasn't gone that long, geez!" he grumbled, flexing slightly, brushing his damp hair out of his face. "Look, don't worry... I won't do it again, promise... I just wanted to see if I could see the sunken city."

Marina slowly calmed down, and swiped her arm across her face, to clear her eyes of tears. They'd both wondered what the city lost to the ravages of the ocean had looked like, and only their father had ever seen the place first hand. He'd told them many stories of his deep-sea trips before they went to bed... often adding in surreal elements like mermaids and sea monsters.

"I wonder if daddy ever did see a sea monster for real..." Marina commented, after thinking on the subject more. She never doubted her father once. Kai was more sceptical, but one night, he'd come home, nervous and shaken up, and she had to wonder what he'd found.

"I wouldn't mind findin' a cute mermaid, actually..." Kai said, going a noticeable shade of pink in the cheeks, "but ah... y-yeah, I wonder if dad was telling the truth about a sea monster?"

Both of them thought more on it, the night when their dad had come home, shaken up. He'd spoken cryptically, about finding something big, huge. On trying to press him, he'd doubted even they would've believed him.

"That was on the night he found the shiny red stone, wasn't it?" Kai murmured, thinking out loud. Marina nodded in confirmation, remembering about the red stone, too.

"Daddy said the other sailors thought it was cursed, and he regretted bringing it on board... what did they do with the stone?" she asked. That was something they never found out, along with hearing the whole story.

"Who knows..." he sighed, picking up the oars again, "but this isn't getting us anywhere fast..."

Kai's picking up of the oars signified that the conversation was over, and the time for talking had passed, and from that point on, he rowed in silence, focused on keeping track. Marina laid down and decided to take a nap, and her dreams were full of sea monsters, mermaids, sunken ruins, and a shiny red stone which cursed sailors.

When she woke up, the sun was beginning to set, and the beach was now looking small on the horizon. They'd drifted out so far, now, it seemed surreal, like they were floating in the middle of nothingness, of some other world, where sea and sky seemed to merge on the horizon.

Kai had stopped rowing, again.

"Why did we stop?" Marina asked, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. The waves which had picked up slightly and rocked her to sleep in the first place had grown still once more, and she noticed Kai's anxious expression.

"Shh!" He hushed sharply, glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, holding up his index finger to silence her from talking any more, keeping his own voice very low, "I saw a giant shadow, and it passed right under us..."

"W-What? W-when?" she whispered back, growing nervous, "y-you're not trying to scare me again, after the talk we had earlier, a-are you...?"

"No... t-this time, I'm serious... something is under the freaking boat..."

Marina slowly inched over towards the edge of their small wooden row-boat. Leaning over the edge, she could hardly make anything out in the sea water beneath their boat. Then she caught sight of it; an immensely large shape rushing right for them.

Screaming, she jumped back, knocking Kai back in the process. A giant blue and purple shark-like creature burst from the depths, smashing the end of the boat apart where Marina had been just moments before, and in turn, over-turning the boat, flinging the two kids overboard, head over heels into the water.

The giant fish-like monster came crashing down with a deafening splash, sounding out a loud roar, as a wall of sea-foam sprayed up on impact after it landed down, sideways, back into the sea.

Kai and Marina began to swim for their lives, in no particular direction, their panic making them swim any direction possible, as long as it was away from the terror behind them.

The waves began to build and grow beneath them, pushing and pulling them about, making their escape difficult. The strange monster appeared again, it's long fins breaking the surface as it rushed towards them, riding the wave. The two kids got pulled into the rapidly growing tube, the lip of the wave curling overhead, and the underbelly of the large shark-monster clearly visible. Both of them gasped, before the wave came crashing down, swallowing them whole, and forcefully pushing them out down under the cold seawater.

Just as it felt like everything was over, a smaller shadow shot past them, smashing into the shark monster head-first.

On reaching the surface again, Kai tried to keep Marina calm, as she was starting to panic and cry, both of them unable to take their eyes off the scene unfolding before them. A small blue dinosaur-like monster had forcibly rammed it's head into the shark's chin, bashing it away.

"I'll protect you! Please, hold on for me!" the dinosaur cried, giving them a reassuring smile over his shoulder.

The shark twisted, batting it's tail into the smaller blue dinosaur, who gripped onto it and held on tight to avoid being batted away, the bigger of the two now beginning to thrash about, making the sea froth and ripple violently. In one of it's more violent twists, it began to create waves once more.

The waves threw the two kids up, and on the way down, another wave caught them, knocking them deep underwater.

"MARINA!" the blue dinosaur yelled, as both kids vanished beneath the waves.

* * *

><p><em>"I'm going to die here..."<em>

_That was her last thought, as she felt her head throbbing and spinning. She had failed to reach the surface, and was sinking down._

_Something bright, like a falling star, was drifting down towards her. She couldn't make it out entirely, but it was there, within reach. She grasped it, this object which gave out pure light, and a warmth that spread through her finger tips._

_She clasped it close to her chest, tightly, over her heart, and began to pray, pray for survival, for someone to save her and her brother._

_"Please... Please help us... I don't want to die!"_

* * *

><p>Kai had been struggling to reach Marina, where he had landed away from her, with the thrashing tail barring him from getting to her. He'd seen the glowing object she was weakly clasping onto, but had no idea what it was.<p>

A bright white light seemed to fill the entire ocean, as the second creature seemed to burst apart, reforming into a bigger, stronger looking one, humanoid in shape, and wielding a weapon. He swam for Marina, pulling her up to the surface, before diving back down, and retrieving Kai.

Kai, despite his terror, felt safe in this being's arms. The bigger creature that had just moments ago been a small dinosaur smiled gently down at him, before they broke surface. Kai choked, coughing and spluttering as he and Marina gasped for breath. She clung weakly to Kai, looking drained and tired, before whispering a thank you up to their saviour.

The shark creature regained it's composure, and twisted back around to face them. It lunged towards them, jaws wide open, glinting, razor sharp fangs displayed, preparing to kill them all.

The kids screamed, clinging to one another in fear, bracing themselves for what seemed like the end...

but the end never came.

"_Breaker Blade_!"

Their benevolent protector rammed his blade-tipped weapon forward, jamming it into the mouth of oncoming beast of fury. With an agonized roar, the blade was driven in deeper, until the tip of the Guan Dao pierced through the top of the creature's head, and in a burst of sparkling red light, it was no more. Their saviour absorbed this into himself.

"Are you alright?" He asked the pair, after the danger had passed, and the water was calm once more.

"Y-Yeah, I think... I th-think so..." Kai murmured. Marina was so tired, she was too weak to make even the faintest sound. "M-My s-sis needs help... a-and we're so far from shore..."

"Leave that to me." The tall humanoid sea-monster replied, holding them both, one under each arm.

He briefly dove down, and began to swim, something between a dolphin and an otter, a strange technique that somehow seemed to work for this being. As he built up moment, he burst up, high over the sea, the kids clinging to his chest and waist.

As he came down, rather than crashing back into the water, he landed, right on the surface, in a full sprint, and like some kind of basilisk lizard, sprinted effortlessly like this, back to land, moving so fast he kicked up water in sprayed bursts behind him with every step, and just as the sun began to sink down into the ocean behind them in the horizon, they were now close enough to see the beach.

"Can you carry her the rest of the way? I don't it'd be cool if other humans saw me," the creature spoke, after turning and getting them near to some rocks near the shore. He was so tall compared to them, he seemed like a giant. "I'll be with you both from now on, okay? So don't sweat it, if the bad guys come again, I'll be there, alright?"

"O-Okay..." Kai murmured, nodding. Their new friend set Marina down onto Kai's back, so he could piggy back her away back to the beach. He didn't know how he'd ever explain he and Marina's disappearing act, but his head was too full of what had transpired to focus much on it, despite the fact half the beach was crawling with police looking for them.

"Be seein' you later! Take care of her until then... feels like I've waited my whole life to meet her, y'know..." and with that, he took off back into the sea, likely to hide away from the other approaching humans.

Kai stumbled forwards, on hearing someone yelling his name; the frantic neighbour, with their tear-stained face, run hoarse from all the yelling they'd been doing, where the search had been on for them all day long.

* * *

><p>"She nearly died... I had to be taken in for questioning, and she got taken to hospital, she was sick for a while after that whole ordeal..." Kai finished, having recounted the entire story to Darren, who had listened on in silence. "That's why I hate digimon... they put her at so much risk... and I can't stop it from happening..."<p>

Marina had slowly come to, half-way through his retelling of their first meeting with Marinemon, who had also listened, in silence, holding Marina close again.

"Tylomon... I wasn't going to let him hurt you, and I don't plan on letting this guy out there hurt you, either..." Marinemon spoke up from the corner. "But as we said this morning... only we can put a stop to this stuff... Me and Elvermon, Marina an' Darren... or else worser things could happen..."

Kai swallowed, coming over and sitting by Marina. She sleepily leant against him, still looking rather drained.

"Kai... please don't hate Marinemon and Elvermon for this..." she murmured, peering up at him with tired, worried eyes. "I'll be alright... we'll get out of here, and get to Amy and Joey's, soon... then there'll be four of us, and we can't lose then, can we...?"

* * *

><p>Medusamon bit her lip worried. She and the rest of the patrol had left the air hanger, and were now half-way towards the shopping mall. She was waiting anxiously to hear back from Sastrugamon; he was at least an hour or so late.<p>

A female frigimon tending to her currently rested her big mitt-like hand on her shoulder gently.

"Don't worry so much, ma'am, I'm sure he'll be fine." She said softly, trying to reassure her anxious leader. Medusamon nodded, though still worried. "You care about him a lot, don't you?"

Medusamon nodded again, folding her arms, her cheeks looking rather rosy.

"I care about him a lot... he pulled us through many hardships, way-back-when... I don't know what I'd do without him..." sighing, she pulled away to sit more by herself, using her tail as a make-shift seat.

Frigimon nodded, closing her eyes, a happy sort of expression on her face. "I'm sure we'll reach a land where we can all be in peace. Nobody doubts that, ma'am."

"Thank you, Frigimon..." Medusamon sighed, still waiting patiently for any sign of her second-in-command.

Suddenly, a SnowAgumon rushed up through the nearby throng of amassed troops, looking frantic and out of breath. Medusamon sat up straight, focused on him, as he hurried to catch his breath.

"It's Sir Sastrugamon... he's returned, Lady Medusamon!" he gasped, panting, "he has urgent news, and is damaged!"

Medusamon straightened up promptly, slithering forward quickly, looking urgent.

"Please, take me to him, right away!"

Hurrying through the crowds, they came around the side of the corner-road they were stationed in, and she paused in her tracks on sight of him. He looked roughed up, and rather tired, sore and tense. She gasped and hurried over, hugging into his soft, feathery chest.

"Sastrugamon... what happened...?" she asked, her hands pawed against his chest, her voice racked with worry.

He bowed his head apologetically, blushing slightly over her being pressed against him as she was, her concern having touched him and made him feel better.

"I regret to inform you, my Lady, of an unfortunate development..." he sighed, speaking quietly, "three humans are out, two of them have digimon... they digivolved and engaged me in combat. I was caught off guard, but managed to subdue them, though I know not if they perished or survived, but one thing is for certain, if there are more of these 'tamers' about, I don't doubt we'll be seeing more showing up..."

Medusamon swallowed a lump that had been growing in her throat, her concern over this development being evident. And she knew what was coming. Sastrugamon was so bound to his responsibilities as being the only one who could scout and survey a large area from the air, that he'd be going off again, and what he said next confirmed her fears.

"I must set off immediately, the longer I am grounded here, the more progress potential enemies could be making going un-monitored." stepping past her, he spread his wings, before Medusamon called out to him.

"S-Sastrugamon... you'd better come back safe... so, please be more careful this time..." she murmured, though managing to smile for him.

Sastrugamon nodded in silence, before taking off, his heart beating away in his chest as hard as his wings were flapping.

* * *

><p>"I wouldn't be surprised if we saw those giant as all hell footprints again, considering everything else we've been through today..." Kai sighed.<p>

Marina and Darren were hitching a ride on Elvermon's back, and Kai was walking beside them on foot with Marinemon. They'd packed a heck of a lot more medical supplies after what had happened earlier with the attack from the mysterious aurora-making digimon. It had taken another hour just to get this far, but thankfully, the journey had gone without incident.

"Please don't jinx it. We're pretty close to Amy's apartment now, we can't be more than twenty minutes away from them, now." Darren replied. Marina had her arms around his waist, so she could keep steady behind him, since Elvermon sometimes had a bad habit of forgetting he had passengers and often put a spring into his step.

Both digimon were virtually back to normal, aside from scuffs. It was a wonder they held their forms as well as they had done, after the attack. Kai had to wonder if some power like hope and determination between both digimon and their human partners is what was enabling to cling on slightly longer.

"I think we take a right from here, and head down until the turning at the left..." Darren said out loud, after reading the map on his d-drive.

As everyone began to head out, the map screen on Darren's d-drive got interrupted by a warning signal, Marina's d-drive setting off at the same time with the same warning tone. Both digimon paused, tensing up again.

"There's digimon... lots of them, up ahead..." Elvermon growled, bowing down. His two passengers climbed down and dropped off his back, both he and Marinemon stepping forward expectantly, at the ready.

"You had to jinx it, didn't you?" Darren sighed, causing Kai to shoot him a stern glare.

Through the fog ahead, at least a hundred or so amassed creatures had appeared. the d-drives whirred into action as the pair scanned the mass of digimon infront.

Marinemon and Elvermon had been able to readily identify all but one, a green snake-like gorgon digimon leading the entire motley crew.

_[MEDUSAMON]_

_Level - Champion_

_Attribute - Virus_

_Type - Demon Man_

_Family - Nature Spirit, Dark Area_

_Attacks - Gorgon's Glare, Aegis of Night_

_A hideous digimon with living snakes as her hair, she is dangerous, and holds hatred of those who deny her the goals she aims for. Beware of Gorgon's Glare, an attack that petrifies all who look into her eyes, turning them to stone._

Medusamon pursed her lips sternly, her hands planted on her hips.

"Hideous? You carry some tacky little devices with you there," she drawled agitatedly, and rather dismissively, "One thing is correct, if you value your lives, you'll back down, now."

She was irked enough from the less than flattering introduction brought on by the d-drives, but she was holding back more rage on the fact that these had to be the people that Sastrugamon had described, three humans and two digimon, travelling together. It could be no other group.

"Why the hell have you done this?" Marina yelled, from Darren's side, taking the opportunity to confront her, considering that, unlike Sastrugamon, she was even bothering to talk.

"That's none of your business, sweetie," Medusamon replied, folding her arms across her chest, "You have five seconds to move aside, or I will ensure you are killed in the stampede that will happen shortly!"

Five seconds passed, and none of the human trio or their digimon budged an inch. As scary as it was, they were so close, and the enemy was right here, on top of this, there was no guarantee this strange digimon would keep her word, and no chance at all at them stopping the harsh weather.

"Fine. I gave you a chance, but you clearly have a death wish," she sighed, yawning away, as if this would be all too easy. "Alright, dears, show them what we do with people that get in the way!"

The large cluster of digimon under her command shot past with a deafening roar, claws, fangs and clubs at the ready.

Marinemon smirked, holding out his hands, as his eyes began to glow.

"_WHIRLING DEATH!_"

A vast, swirling vortex of magic water opened up right in the middle of the street, causing the first row of approaching enemies to fall straight in and get sucked down, and the second wave, who had seen this coming, trying hard to slow down, but the preceding majority behind them bumped from the sudden halt, knocking many more in. The rookies of those numbers were dragged down to their deaths, with the bigger, stronger ones who hadn't died along with them barely escaping.

"I can fight these guys better than the last one, we're on even ground now!" Marinemon commented, confident after his first attack initiated on the opposing side worked.

The whirlpool slowly flowed away into nothingness, completely subsiding. This time, the bigger digimon came charging first. Marinemon rushed to greet them, with Elvermon by his side.

"Let me clear some out for you, brother!" Elvermon grinned, opening his mouth up wide, "_MIRE WHIP!_"

The green swamp-beast's tongue shot out, grabbing the biggest Frigimon that was within reach, and used him like a club, smashing him back and forth against surrounding digimon, causing more rookies to burst apart in flurries of data.

Marinemon finished off the rival champion-level digimon with Breaker Blade, both of them carefully organizing their attacks to push back their numbers.

Medusamon however had had enough of this, on the edge of flying off into a deep rage.

"AEGIS OF NIGHT!"

Holding out her hands, two pulsating black orbs of energy appeared over her hands, and as she raised her hands up, so did she raised a shield of energy over as many of her followers as possible, deciding to take charge of things herself, and spare her side any more losses.

She raised two more shields, using them like a police officer's riot shields, beating and forcing Marinemon and Elvermon back, their attacks unable to penetrate through the powerful energy shields.

"I've had enough!" she snarled, until she had her hated foes together in one spot, the digimon taking a more defensive stance infront of their humans. But nothing they would do would save them from what she was going to perform next.

The group gasped in horrified realization, as the gorgon digimon removed the bandages covering her eyes.

"_GORGON'S GLARE!_"

_To be continued..._


	8. An Icy Reception

_"I've had enough!" Medusamon snarled, until she had her hated foes together in one spot, the digimon taking a more defensive stance in front of their humans. But nothing they would do would save them from what she was going to perform next._

_The group gasped in horrified realization, as the gorgon digimon removed the bandages covering her eyes._

_"GORGON'S GLARE!"_

* * *

><p>Kai was sat behind a half-buried car, shivering, numb, and distraught. The tears he had cried had long since dried, leaving his face icy-cold and pale. But again and again, his thoughts, which seemed stuck on replay, set him off spiralling down into some dark place inside himself with grief.<p>

Half an hour ago, they had confronted Medusamon, and now... he was all alone. Marina had pushed Kai out of the way, yelling at him to run and get to Amy and Joey's place, and not look back. He'd been given Marina's D-Drive, and had ran and hid down a nearby alley, but hadn't been pursued, and the digimon on the opposing side had maybe deemed him as no threat, since he lacked a partner of his own.

He'd felt stupid, for running, leaving her... and he'd regretted it on coming back, after hearing the sounds of the now slightly reduced army pass by. On returning, he'd been greeted with a sight that made his blood run cold.

His sister, Darren, and their digimon, had become statues, left behind by the army to become lost under the building snow. Kai had screamed in disbelief and horror on the sight, and had remained there for ten minutes, too stunned to move. He was lost without his sister, and with no digimon to protect him, had no idea what he should do. He was an emotional wreck right now, on the brink of giving up, feeling utterly hopeless.

Burying his head in his arms, his knees pulled up to his chest, he sobbed brokenly, unable to hold back the pain and grief plaguing him. Everything hurt. He wished so desperately he had stayed back, and felt like he had betrayed his sister and Darren by running... but he'd known, the moment the gorgon digimon removed her bandages, what was coming, they'd all been able to guess their fate, and his little sister was depending on him to get to her friend's house and get their help... it was the only remaining option.

He got up, his legs trembling, stumbling and staggering forward. He had completely forgotten what was expected of him, at first, but tried to focus on just getting to the right destination. He needed to, for his sister's sake. He wandered on like this, lost in a daze, some grey phantom of his former self in an equally grey world.

He struggled to understand how to use Marina's D-Drive. Marinemon's status was marked 'unknown', and where his profile image would have been was now a gargled mess of pixellated static. It perfectly represented the indefinite state the rest of the party was in, and Kai had no idea if they were dead or alive under the stone spell the gorgon had placed on them.

Eventually, he managed to get the map up. Fate must have taken mercy on him, because he was very close; the marker Marina had placed on Amy's address was now showing just barely on screen.

But the cold and depression were getting to him. He wanted to shrink down, and curl up, unable to escape his sorrow, grief and guilt. His limbs were so sore and stiff, he ached just moving in a fraction. He'd reached his limits, and felt he could go no further, and as the fog seemed it's thickest, he dropped down onto his knees, fresh tears dripping down his face and onto the powdered snow beneath him.

He felt so cold, and tired, and empty. He felt himself losing track again, and as he went to force himself back onto his feet, he looked up, and caught sight of something that truly shocked him.

Just ahead, barely visible in the fog, was another person, a young teen, wearing only a loose-fitting t-shirt and shorts, bare-foot. Kai felt the coldness had finally gotten to him, but the figure ahead was so real, he knew it was no trick of the mind. It couldn't be.

"H-Hey!" he called out, stumbling forward, groggily. He was so numbed over and tired that it didn't register how odd and unnatural this kid's appearance was. All he knew is that he didn't want to be alone outside in this lonely, frozen world.

It was as if the stranger had been awaiting him; however, before Kai could get any closer, the other male, or at least, Kai assumed male, turned and ran out of sight down the nearby street.

"W-Wait!" Kai yelled, struggling, but managing to pick up his feet. He began dashing as fast as his body and the snowy ground below would allow, trying to keep this mysterious person in sight, though the fog made this impossibly difficult.

Around the corner, Kai stared ahead, up the street. The strange kid was at the other end, seemingly waiting for him once more. Kai repeated things again, dashing forward, calling out to the other person, with the younger one always vanishing off just as Kai got within clearer sight of him.

This continued, until Kai turned the last corner, and wound up in front of a tall apartment complex. The mysterious teenager had gone, now, leaving Kai on his own. Just as he wondered what had happened, and where the only other being out in this mess could have gone to, Marina's D-Drive beeped loudly, drawing his attention.

This was the place... had the strange kid lead him here? How was that even possible? It hurt his head to try to think about it out here, and he really needed to get inside. Thankfully, on reaching where the door would have been, had the snow not completely covered it, he found that someone had begun tunnelling a way in... or rather, out.

And the ones responsible for this tunnel were waiting for him. They didn't need to introduce themselves; he knew straight away who they were, considering two curious digimon were peering up by their sides. They were Amy and Joey, the ones he had been looking for.

"I'm so glad to see you guys..." Kai sighed, before things got too much for him, and he passed out, where his body was too tired and cold to stay conscious any longer.

* * *

><p>It had taken only a short while to get Kai into Amy's apartment, and as soon as they had retreated back inside again, they carried him over to the sofa and laid him down, with Amy hurrying to fetch pillows and blankets to cover him.<p>

The snow had made Kai's clothing wet, and after Amy and Laelapmon left to give them some privacy, Joey got Kai out of his wet, icy clothing, and dried his chest and legs down with a towel wet with warm water. There was no way to get him to a hospital if his condition worsened, and so both he and Amy, despite her wanting to give the guy some dignity, treat him as best they could.

"I wonder what happened to Darren and Marina..." Amy murmured quietly, sat by Joey after they'd gotten Kai bundled up more. She took the flannel they had placed on their patients forehead and placed it back in the tub of hot water they'd warmed using the kettle, since the water system still would not give hot water. She wrung the flannel of excess water, and then placed it back onto the sleeping young man's pale forehead again. "He seems exhausted... I... something bad must have happened..."

"Don't jump to conclusions just yet, Amy. We're still here, and no doubt with the Resistance and Arch Angel still active, something's got to give, soon." Joey replied, looking sternly down at Kai.

"Let's just wait for him to recover, so he can tell us what we're dealing with... I want to know what happened to the others, too..."

Amy got up, and wandered over to the table. Laelapmon and Manimon were sitting side-by-side at the table, in silence. The usually snippy rabbit seemed to lack any smart comments today, more so since the revelation that his beloved Marina's current status was unknown.

The anxious blonde stood by the table, leaning against it, her hands pressed down on the smooth, cold table-top, staring down at Marina's D-Drive. Marinemon's status was still flickering and glitched out, and all his information was replaced with "Unknown".

"They're... statues..." Kai groaned, sitting up painfully, where his joints ached sorely, "Darren... Sis... the digimon..."

Amy hurried back over and sat beside Joey, who also sat up straight on Kai finally rejoining them. Both Laelapmon and Manimon scurried over to sit nervously by their partner's sides, as Kai explained everything that had happened to them during the course of the day, up to now.

The accounts of Sastrugamon, Medusamon, the mysterious paw prints that neither of those digimon or their followers matched, what had become of their friends and Kid's sudden mysterious appearance gave them a lot to think about.

* * *

><p>Manimon had been unable to stop crying over Marina since finding out what had happened. Laelapmon had one of her ears draped over his back, trying to comfort him. Joey and Amy were both in silence, staring down at the ground in deep thought, trying to wrap their heads around these developments.<p>

"Turned to stone... I can't believe such a thing could really happen..." Joey muttered in a grim tone, his arms folded across his chest, "So there is a small army of Digimon travelling about, and already, they've taken down half of our team..."

"I... I don't know what to say, or do..." Amy murmured in response. She felt numb from shock, still, and to say she was down was an understatement, she seemed empty and mixed inside. The shock had not properly set into the humans or their digimon, nobody present could seem to fathom the effect that had befallen their allies.

Joey licked his dry lips, polishing his glasses repeatedly, as if he'd switched on to autopilot, going through the motions without thinking about what he was doing, lost in thought.

"We have to find the Resistance, and Barghestmon... we need to get with the others, make sure that we're not out-numbered... failing that..." the bespectacled blonde began, placing his glasses back on his face, "...I don't want to think about the fate of the city... I can't trust Arch Angel to do a much better job... for all we know, they may have wanted this to happen."

Amy startled slightly from her own thoughts, especially at Joey's assumption on Arch Angel. She stood up, nervously, to stretch her legs. Biting her bottom lip anxiously, she gazed out of the glass panels on the door leading out onto her balcony, at the snowy, foggy town, standing silent and grey in the freezing air.

"I'm not defending them, but... who could honestly want this to happen? How could anyone live long in these conditions?" She replied, wringing her hands anxiously as she paced about back and forth, "But I agree... we must find more tamers who could help us..."

Joey got up, heading over to grab their own bag of supplies they'd managed to scrounge together. Amy did not have the same range of supplies Kai's group had managed to put together, as this had caught her completely off-guard. Should they survive this endeavour, she swore to herself to keep more useful gear on hand in future.

"I don't know if I can count on the Resistance... I still have a few misgivings about them..." Joey murmured, "after all, being so secretive... Using tactics akin to terrorism... And they know a lot about us, and you know them a little better than I do, Amy, but not enough for them to truly be allies, not really... but if they really are investigating this, I guess we have no choice. We'll have to hope we get lucky and don't bump into the opposition first..."

Amy had a bit more confidence in the resistance. Regardless of their methods of dealing with things, and how she had been whisked down in a way akin to being_ kidnapped_, she had come out safe and sound, with Laelapmon's digivolution ability restored. They also knew a lot more than she did on what was going on, and had the technology and team to make this happen. If anyone could help them, she was positive they could.

Kai gave the pair the general directions he'd followed, from where Kid had supposedly led him. Amy was curious about this, and whilst everyone set off to try to pick up the trail around the area that the fighting had taken place, Joey told Amy about Kid.

He'd put off talking about Kid since the first time he and Manimon had encountered him, since he'd forgotten, what with everything else going on. And whilst odd, it was only now he was sighted outside, here in the snow, apparently knowing where they lived, that he was given cause for alarm.

"There was a strange kid in the canteen at work, bushy blue hair that covers his eyes, loose-fitting white t-shirt and shorts, just... I thought he may have just wandered in off the street, or something. Just... everything was unsettling about him." Joey explained, hoisting the bag of supplies up a little more, "Like, he was so out of place. Like he didn't... belong? It's hard to explain... Manimon could tell you more, I'm sure."

The bespectacled male turned his gaze down at Manimon, in a way suggesting the rabbit should continue the explanation. The small cyan digimon seemed to shie away from his partner's stare, where he was still shaken up over the news of the others. Unlike Laelapmon, who was keeping up good pace despite her own thoughts, Manimon had started lagging behind them.

Joey sighed, and tweaked Manimon's ear tip, which had the rabbit snapping back to focus. Sighing, Manimon finally continued.

"He claims he lives in Arch Angel, had never seen outside the building, knows about Hal and wants him to 'notice' him, has no memories nor does he remember his name..." Manimon sighed, rubbing his arms a little, "actually... despite the weirdness of it all... I feel sorry for him..."

Joey managed to smile at this comment. Manimon seemed to, in all the time he'd known him, be showing more of a nice side towards others, feeling sympathy or empathy for other people. Despite the situation they were all in, Manimon really did care, it seemed.

"I don't think a person like that could be bad," Laelapmon spoke up. The others had slowed a little without realizing as Manimon had been talking, so she'd taken the lead. "Mr. Kai made it to us, because Kid showed him the way... if he was against us, he wouldn't have helped us, I don't think..."

She stopped, turning to look over her shoulders at the others, who all nodded in agreement. Even so, as everyone picked up the pace, the fact Kid was wearing a thin t-shirt and shorts running around bare foot in the worst (artificial) 'winter' that Neo Tokyo would ever see left more questions to which no-one could hope to answer at this point.

"Well, let's think about how we're going to go about things," Joey spoke after a little while, as they turned right to head down another snow-covered street, everyone beginning to shiver as the cold really started to set in, "It's going to get dark, eventually... we'll need to find shelter. We can't go back, because they'll be far too ahead of us for us to track again..."

"If the worst comes to the worst, we'll just break into the nearest building," Amy replied, in all seriousness, Joey giving her a surprised look. She cocked an eyebrow at him and continued, "What? You said it yourself, we can't go back, and I certainly don't fancy trying to spend the night outside, or in some alcove. No, the only thing for it is to just break in."

Joey still seemed very surprised over this, since Amy had usually been so unsure of herself, or her abilities, and didn't usually take change or make such bold suggestions here. She seemed to be coming more out of her shell, the reality of things having set in, and now she seemed to be making more of an effort to think more practically.

"My, my, Amy, you've certainly changed," Manimon grinned, managing to perk himself up, grinning away, "You're certainly not the same girl from a few days ago, that's for sure. It's kind of infectious, actually..."

"H-Huh?" the blonde looked down at Manimon, her cheeks tinged pink over his comments, "what do you mean?"

"Actually... ever since things happened, with Hiro, and such... you've been fighting a lot more," Joey commented, "Don't think I don't remember the shy and quiet girl you used to be, going back some years... but I mean, especially since coming to Japan, you did stuff I never expected you to ever do. Such as crawl through a vent system into a room with a giant worm in it, or try to force Barghestmon off of Laelapmon when he's far bigger than you..."

Amy managed a little smile. They'd known each other for so long, these things were so noticeable for the other when one did something unexpected, against their character, or just plain unusual. To pass the time going through this bleak, gray and white city, the two began to reminisce about the past.

"You were always very assertive with our work, always pushing us to get our assignments done," Amy sighed, remembering with pride all the good work they got done for their classes, "The only time you got hopelessly shy, though, seemed to be around that one girl from one of your study groups."

"Don't I know it!" Manimon interrupted, smirking wickedly, flashing his famous rabbit-y buckteeth, "He's like that now, with this other girl!"

Joey's face went so red, he felt sure it could be felt from where Amy and Manimon were standing.

"I do not!" He retorted, looking uncharacteristically shy all of a sudden. It was already embarrassing enough that he felt hopelessly awkward around, say, Neon, whom he still knew as Kaede, but having it so obvious to others, it felt a tad bit too discomforting.

"It's alright, Joey," Amy giggled, patting his arm in a friendly manner, "It's nothing to be ashamed of. I just wish things went your way, more often."

She didn't understand all the details, but on Joey's last year of college, things hadn't gone too well, and it had all been because of a girl he had been crushing on. He'd gotten so withdrawn, he'd become reclusive and shut himself away from others. Amy's dad knew more, and seemed to be at least in contact with his former student, but because Joey had wanted things kept confidential, Amy was left out of the loop. She had no idea what had happened to Joey, or the girl he presumably still had feelings for, considering she had caught him mentioning her once or twice to Manimon previously.

Joey's shoulders slumped slightly, his head slightly hung low as unwanted memories began to surface. Namely memories of his college years. He shook his head as if trying to dispel these dark thoughts, trying to get his head back to the current events that were happening right now.

Manimon gazed up at his tamer, his expression dropping a little as he witnessed Joey's anguished fight with himself. He walked over to Joey and rested a paw on his tamers hand, looking up with a reassuring smile that seemed to pull Joey out of his sudden broody moment. Joey smiled down and patted the small rabbit's head.

"Thanks, Manimon." He murmured. He felt a bit more perked up thanks to Manimon's support. Even if the rabbit sometimes was for a loss for words, just showing he cared spoke volumes more than talking, sometimes.

There was an awkward silence that followed after this, not helped by Amy's guilt and feeling responsible, since she had brought the issue up in the first place, and then accidentally causing Joey to remember things he was uncomfortable thinking about. After a while, she thought she might try to lighten the mood by changing the subject.

"I bet the Resistance's secret digimon could easily stop the ones causing these problems," Amy commented, since it had completely skipped her mind to tell Joey more about the Resistance. He had shown curiosity in what they were like, but for their confidentiality she'd not spoken about them, but she felt it might provide a good enough distraction by finally indulging his curiosity. "Or did Barghestmon tell you anything, considering he was in on the entire thing?"

"Barghestmon didn't mention much, really, about the Resistance. Only that they were gonna fix your D-Drive and such." He replied thoughtfully, "So what's this about a secret digimon, then?"

"It's a huge worm-like, metallic dragon digimon. A machine, or at least partly so... and it's by far the biggest thing I've ever seen in my life!" Amy still remembered how surprised and taken aback she had been on seeing SysOpmon for the first time, "The impressiveness didn't really sink in until I left, I guess. I couldn't really wrap my head around it... that they had something that big, and powerful-looking, in their own base, right under the noses of everyone up here- even Arch Angel."

"He's the one that helped remove the block that was stopping me from digivolving," Laelapmon added, wagging her tail. She was still pleased with the result from that day, because it truly meant her days of not being able to fight with everything she had were now over. "For some reason, he seemed to take a certain interest in me..."

"Yes..." Amy confirmed, in thought. "It was kind of mysterious, but... he said he thought Laelapmon was something 'special'."

Joey brushed his index finger over his bottom lip as if in deep thought.

"Hmm. It seems that the Resistance are more beguiling than I had first thought." He rubbed his finger against his lips thoughtfully, but shook his head, as if his thoughts had ended up at a dead end. "It kind of makes you wonder what they are actually capable of."

"I don't think they have any intention of threatening the city," Amy replied, hoisting her bag up over her shoulder more. The group started around another corner, heading down the last street Kai had remembered, "They seem completely obsessed with taking down Arch Angel..."

"Because Arch Angel kills innocent digimon," Laelapmon reminded her, "Cadmemon had filled me in on that whilst I was being 'worked' on."

And from the look on Amy's face, Cadmemon had informed her tamer of all the gruesome details, too.

"I've always suspected Arch Angel were up to something, but I don't think they're actually killing Digimon." Joey shook his head as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "They must have been mistaken or something."

"Well, I have no reason to doubt what Cadmemon said," Laelapmon murmured, her eyes narrowing in disgust. The more she heard of Arch Angel, the more she was growing to dislike them, "Don't forget, they might be teenagers, but they have access to military brand computer terminals, with a giant machine-dragon capable of hacking D-Drives and getting into Arch Angel's servers."

"Actually Joe," Manimon began "There may be some truth to what Cadmemon had said to Laelapmon. I mean, the first time we met her, she literally spat Arch Angels name when she mentioned them."

Joey shrugged his shoulders. "Don't get me wrong, guys. I'm not doubting you at all. I just prefer not to believe everything via word of mouth. I guess I'm the type of person who needs proof before I actually decide to believe in what I've been told." He turned his head to look at Amy. "Does that make me a bad person?"

His eyes widened a little with concern, knowing that he held a different opinion to what his friends had, since they were all convinced something utterly evil was going on there, and he had yet to see anything concrete.

Before anyone could say any more on the subject though, they came upon the remains of Marina and Darren's battle with what appeared to be an absolute mess of footprints that indicated a large number of digimon had been present.

But the thing that perhaps shocked and upset them more was seeing the statues of their friends. Just as Kai had said, they had been turned to stone, motionless and grey rock figures in the abandoned street. Snow was slowly beginning to cover the four who had been only moments away from getting into the home-stretch and in the same safety that had been afforded to Kai. Everything about this was absolutely heartbreaking to those who had stumbled across this solemn scene.

Marinemon was stood against Marina, has body half-twisted where he had tried to shield her eyes, but hadn't been fast enough. His arms were locked around her in an eternal embrace, now, with her clinging tightly to him, a look of surprise on her face, whatever she had been looking at having caught her off guard.

Darren had been in mid-sprint, trying to get to her side. His arm was frozen, out-stretched, reaching for her in vain, never being able to get to her. Elvermon had been trying to keep Darren covered, by the mesmerized and shocked look suggested he had been unable to look away in time, if at all. Every one of the stone figures seemed as though they had been transfixed on the stare from the gorgon digimon.

Manimon walked over to the stony figures that were Marinemon and Elvermon, touching them one at a time with his paws. "They are the most annoying creatures ever... but they didn't deserve this..." he shook his head, a bewildered expression etched on his face as he lightly patted their stone bodies. Joey leaned forward to get a close look at Marina, also shaking his head solemnly.

"Seems Medusamon didn't want anyone to follow her..." Joey sighed with exasperation. "I'm glad Kai managed to escape. It's actually a miracle that someone without a digimon partner could even get away from something capable of turning living things into stone."

Amy looked from one statue to the next, stunned, and in disbelief. The surreality of it all was making her feel nauseated and upset. It took her a moment to gather herself taking it all in. It was as if Kai's words had been heard, but not truly sunk in. Just how was anyone supposed to take the news that their friends had been trapped in unbelievable circumstances? And she suddenly understood what Joey had said earlier, how it was hard to believe something until you saw it with your own eyes.

"This is inhumanely cruel..." she muttered, utterly reviled at the sight, "I... I honestly can't tell if they're even..."

"Don't say it..." Laelapmon murmured, in a small voice. She didn't want her tamer to give into thinking that what had happened couldn't be reversed. Amy seemed to understand, and stopped before saying the grim thing she had been moments away of suggesting.

"It just doesn't add up. They were clearly out-numbered, here, but rather than be killed, they were turned to stone..." Amy mused. Whilst she felt disgusted and angered at what happened, it really didn't make any sense. "Do you think they can be reasoned with? We could try talking to them to get to the bottom of this. It's crazy talk, I know, but... it just doesn't make sense, that a vast number of enemy digimon chose the lesser-evil when dealing with adversaries?"

Joey had walked over to the figure of Darren, gazing thoughtfully into his unblinking, stony eyes as if trying to find any clue if he can see or even hear him. "I have to admit, Amy, you're right. It just doesn't make sense. What ever Medusamon is up to, she wanted them more out of the way, rather than kill them" He left that thought hanging briefly as he tapped on Darren's shoulder momentarily.

"All that's left to do now, is to follow the trail they left for us." Laelapmon suggested, having walked up the trail a little. She didn't want to spend any more time in this depressing place, allowing the trail to go cold, becoming lost under the snowfall, "The sooner we catch up to them all, the better, before we lose the trail!"

Everyone hurried to follow after the small white dog digimon, who led them forward in silence. The trail seemed to twist and turn a few times, almost giving the impression that the large group of wandering digimon had no clue where they were going, but it seemed way too deliberate.

It was almost like they were going somewhere very specific.

"Where on earth are they going?" Amy asked, as they continued to follow the slushy, trampled ground from the mass of stamping that had been done by the digimon that had gone travelling through. "What could they possibly want out here? Aside from the shopping district, there's nothing else along this way that would be of interest to digimon..."

Manimon sneezed due to the chilling weather, his nose running a little. "Perhaps there's something at the shopping district that we don't know about." He sniffed, wiping his nose on his glove.

"Perhaps..." Joey shivered slightly but ignored the chilling winds "There's only one way to find out. There is no other place they could have gone that I can think of."

They didn't have much farther to go before their D-Drives buzzed to life, countless dots showing up on the radar screen. This was it, they had caught up to their targets. It was only a matter of time before they would be seeing their foes for themselves.

* * *

><p>"Is everything alright?" Sastrugamon asked, as Medusamon rested her head against his soft, feathery chest. He stroked her snakey-hair more out of her face, in concern. Black blood had dripped from the third eye concealed behind her bandages, which were heavily stained.<p>

"Ah... it's nothing... just went a little bit overboard..." she sighed, looking drained. He gently brushed his wing-tips against her cheeks worriedly, hoping to soothe her. Gorgon's Glare had the draw back of causing her injury if she did too much at once to too many targets. He was anxious over the state of her eyesight, but didn't press her too much on the subject.

"Speaking of which, I have something to tell you..." he started, lowering his voice, "Four of those lackeys working for Arch Angel are lurking about. They've been tracking me... I need to draw them away from here, from our troops, and..."

He cast his gaze over towards several sacks, which contained all of the digitama that been brought over. There was one very special sack, tied with a ribbon around it, that held especially deep significance to the pair. Inside the sack was two specific digi-eggs, which contained their adopted next-of-kin, which would eventually hatch into the lower forms of their species.

"...for their sake, and yours, I need to make sure they don't reach you." He concluded quietly. He watched her, sadly, studying her face. She was the most precious, beautiful digimon to him, his treasure. He would do anything and everything to make sure she and all the digitama would escape.

Suddenly, he saw her lean up, cupping her hands against his soft, snow-white cheeks, her touch making his face grow hot from his emotions. He lowered his head more for her, so she could reach better, and in turn, gave her easy access for the kiss she left on his face. He shivered over the affectionate action, the feeling of joy welling inside him almost fit to burst.

"You're too nice to me... I almost feel unworthy..." she sighed, managing to smile up at him tenderly, despite the pain she was in from the extent of her attack from earlier. She always had time for a smile for Sastrugamon, however.

Their moment together grew to a close, as Sastrugamon prepared to take off, going on a mission to distract and draw away the agents that were out there, tracking onto him. Medusamon felt scared. It was four of the enemy's best 'warriors' with their equally formidable digimon, against Sastrugamon.

"Wait!" She called, hurrying after him. She needed to tell him something, before he left, "Sastrugamon... please, in case... in case something happens, I..."

The great white bird silenced her from continuing, pressing his wing tip lightly against her lips.

"No... I promise, Medusamon, I will be back to you, as soon as those trouble-makers are drawn away. You have my word, my lady. I will see you again, soon..." He exclaimed, nuzzling his beak against her cheek. "You are not much further from the mall, now... hurry and get safely inside, with everyone."

And with that, Sastrugamon left. His heart had been pounding, wondering what Medusamon had been about to say, but he didn't want to hear it, not just yet. All the while he was still alive and able, he wanted to make sure she stayed safe. His promise to return would help keep him strong through this. After all, there was something important he wanted to tell her, too.

"Oh Frigimon..." Medusamon whimpered, almost seeming to collapse into her female companion's strong polar arms, "I'm so scared... the more we go on, the more scared I feel I'll lose him..."

Frigimon had been nearby during the pair's conversation, stood in heart-wrenching silence. Her leader was in agony over all of this, and it broke her heart to be unable to help much, after all, she couldn't guarantee or promise Sastrugamon's safe return. All she could do was try to keep her spirits up, gently stroking Medusamon's cheek with her big thumb.

"You know him better than anyone else, ma'am," she replied, her voice gentle and soft, "He'd move heaven and earth, to get back to your side."

This comment made Medusamon's heartbeat race, blushing like a schoolgirl. Frigimon wished things were different, because her brave leaders love was threatened by so many things right now. She hoped this time, love would overcome all odds and truly conquer all. It worked in fairy tails, why couldn't it work, just this once, for real?

Only time would tell how things would play out, whether they would succeed, or fail.

* * *

><p>The group had seen everything, but been unable to hear what had been said from behind the cover of a truck in the street. They had taken a short-cut down an alley after heading after the large cluster of dots on the D-Drive, apparently hitting the jack pot with their find.<p>

"The others must have fought and killed a few of them off already, I was expecting more of them..." Amy commented quietly, ducking back behind the truck again. "But there's still too many, and that gorgon digimon is there..."

Joey peered out from where they were hiding, surveying the scene ahead, "Somehow, we must try and get closer. I can't hear what they're talking about properly at this distance." He shuffled slightly in his spot, his legs cramping from the position he was kneeling in.

"You guys stay here, this looks like a job for the King of Rabbits," and with that, Manimon had scurried right under the truck, using the snow dune underneath as a bunker "I'll try and take a closer look." He slowly began to drag himself closer to the enemy group, straining his ears to pick up any vital piece of information.

Everyone seemed to hold their breath, watching him inching forward bit by bit, advancing towards a half-buried car for more cover. He was almost there, all he had to do was to pass by a mound of snow that had built up near to the car, and-

"Ah HAH!" Cried a sudden, loud voice. Two arms burst from the snow mound, as a SnowGoburimon leapt out from the mound, scattering snow everywhere. It was so sudden that Manimon had no time to react, where he had been caught completely off-guard. The rabbit yelped as the goblin digimon pinned him down, struggling to keep him restrained, all the noise attracting the attention of the other digimon from the assembled mass nearby.

Joey jumped to his feet in shock, practically running out to try to get to his partner before the captured rabbit was clubbed to death by the mob crowding around him. He didn't get far until a Mojyamon had him caught with his big, strong hands, restraining Joey's arms behind his back.

"Stay here, and keep hidden!" Amy whispered, concealing Laelapmon under the truck, half-buried under snow. Before Laelapmon could even protest, Amy was heading out from behind the truck too, holding her hands up as she went out, to show that she yielded to them without resistance. She hoped they could be reasoned with, trying to ignore the growing sense of worry building inside of her.

Joey struggled, fighting to get out of the large fuzzy digimon's grip. "GET OFF!" He cried out, just for the Mojyamon currently restraining him to tighten his grip "MANIMON!" He called for his partner who was being restrained currently by the icy goblin digimon.

Manimon struggled to get free, himself, on seeing Joey being manhandled by the hairy beast currently keeping him captive, but the SnowGoburimon who had captured him during the ambush had received help from a second of the goblin digimon in bounding his arms and legs with rope.

The mob surrounding the two tamers and Manimon parted to allow Medusamon through them all. After sashaying through a throng of SnowAgumon and Mojyamon, she and Frigimon, who was still accompanying her, waltzed right on up to inspect the 'catch'.

"What an interesting day this has been... we've caught more of these little rats scurrying around!" Medusamon commented sarcastically, standing before the three with her arms held akimbo. "Let me guess, you were thinking of trying to sneak up behind us all and try picking us off whilst you had the element of surprise, eh?"

"I'm more surprised you learned to up your freaking security after that blue menace and his child-minded green-booger of a cat-fox got through as many of your followers as they had!" Manimon quipped back, managing a cocky smile. But the glare he received back from the gorgon digimon had him promptly silenced.

"Please, wait!" Amy called out, from where she was currently being held in place by two SnowAgumon, "Please, we've lost two of our close friends because of this, and you've lost many followers... couldn't we talk about this?"

"An interesting and _predictable _approach, of course," the snake woman mused, rubbing her chin in thought, "You show more guts than the young man who escaped earlier, considering neither of you have digimon... but of course, it's impossible for you to escape, so of _course_ you would beg for your life."

"Please," Amy started, still trying to appeal to Medusamon. Joey looked as if he was so doubtful of them even getting through to her, that he'd given up hope, "Surely you have your reasons for doing this to our city, our home... but our friends, and the lives of everyone who lives here, are at stake because of this blizzard you've created... if we were to help you, would you please stop this, and return our friends to normal?"

Medusamon seemed to consider this, slithering off to one side to think. Her earlier attacks had left her feeling too drained, so turning them to stone was out of the question. There was also the advantage of holding them hostage in case the pests from Arch Angel tried anything with her beloved Sastrugamon... but she didn't trust these humans further than she could throw a stone, that much was certain.

"I don't trust you. _Any_ of you," She replied, approaching back towards them, still seeming to consider her options, "But you should consider yourself lucky, that I'm even keeping you alive, let alone go un-afflicted with petrification. You three will just have to come with us until we can reach some arrangement. We can't have you running off like the last little mouse did, trying to grab more reinforcements!"

Joey looked up at Medusamon, his eyes narrowed "What do you plan to do with us then?" He enquired curiously.

"I'm sure we'll find a nice place for you three, when we reach the biggest shopping mall in your precious city. We'll be transforming it into a beautiful fortress, a sanctuary for ourselves, until we make plans for our next move..." Medusamon commented, feeling confident that there would be no more problems since capturing these three so 'easily', "Though, at this stage, it's too early to say what we'll do with you when we're ready to leave this place... I'm sure you'll have a lot of time to think about this when we get there, though!"

Laelapmon hung her head solemnly on hearing this. She listened to Medusamon and her cronies laughing away cruelly, before leading the three captives off. Now, it all fell to her to try to save them. She felt alone, and helpless. Barghestmon hadn't trained her on coping solo, so she'd have to just grin and bare it through the oncoming task of rescuing the others.

Once the rabble had left, she crawled out from underneath the truck, shook herself off from the chilly, wet snow, and took up on tracking them all.

* * *

><p>Laelapmon had lost track of time, having lost count of the hours that had passed since her forced separation from the others.<p>

The footsteps left by the troupe of enemy digimon were still fresh, which made following easy. There were times she had to be extra cautious, whenever the sound of chattering voices came within earshot, because if they were close enough to be heard, then they were close enough to hear her, too.

The entire unspoken 'mission' that had been left to her was lonely going. She had no clue how the others were holding up, but they were relying on her to find a way to get them out of trouble, and that alone solidified her resolve to make sure they would come out safe, though this didn't stop her from inwardly cursing to herself about Manimon accidentally getting everyone busted in the first place. She promised herself that she would bite his tail for sure after this was all over... providing that idiot lived long enough to receive the chewing out.

The sun was beginning to set, now. The air was getting almost unbearably cold with the temperature dropping further now it was growing late in the day. She wasn't sure how much longer it was until everyone reached this 'mall' they were travelling too, either. She also hadn't eaten all day, so she had no clue how much longer her energy would hold out, especially with the inevitable rescue attempt coming up.

"I need to catch up to them..." She murmured aloud, to break the disconcerting silence that was all around her. She hadn't heard anything from the rabble in a while, where she usually lagged behind so far as to make sure they were always at least one street ahead, so she could stay hidden from view.

But on catching up with the trail, she was even less prepared for what she saw before her. The trail just ended, fading into nothing, at the worst possible place; a 4-way junction. She grew frantic, and almost lost herself in a sudden wave of panic. But something else caught her attention, and she went over to inspect, trailing her own petite paw-prints behind her, across the fresh snow which had concealed the others tracks.

It was an unmistakable, huge paw print.

Nothing this big had been traveling with the group, something that size would've been unmissable. It suddenly sunk in why the trail had ended; Medusamon's group had seen this print, and been bothered enough by it's sudden appearance that they'd started covering their tracks. Now, Laelapmon had a new reason to feel frightened; if this thing out there was enough to scare the reptile Queen and her followers into trying to avoid confrontation, then what chance did she stand, on her own.

Backtracking to the center of the junction, she sat down and shivered. She certainly wasn't going to go the same way the owner of those giant paw-prints went, but this logically left only two routes left they could have possibly taken. Left, or right. She had to choose, and hope she picked the correct turning, or else they would be too far ahead. And they could already be anywhere by now.

She felt inexplicably drawn to the route to the right of where she had come from, which led down a darkened street, where the sun was vanishing down behind more buildings on the horizon. She felt she had a hunch about it, like somehow, she felt certain this could be the way that everyone had gone. Setting off, she began trotting down the shadowed street, until she came to yet another 4-way junction.

It suddenly hit her how this was not as straightforward as she had initially thought. It really wasn't a matter of just picking left or right, any more. Starting to panic, she flew down one of the turnings at random, finding another 4-way junction. She was lost in a part of the city that seemed to be almost grid-like, and there were too many turnings and too many ways of getting lost and taking the wrong route. Everyone was done for, all because she had let the trail go cold.

"This isn't fair!" She screamed, absolutely frantic, now. Sweat was dampening her fur and her head was spinning. Every single turn brought more and more possible routes, none of them being right. They could be on the other side of the city by now, and she'd never know. She didn't even know the way to the shopping district, either. If there was a map, or bus route, or anything that could give a hint to where she was supposed to be going.

She decided she was going to try to go back, and start from the beginning again, and find a bus route from there, that would tell her how to hopefully get to the right place. But she was out of breath, bleary eyed, with legs so weak she could hardly stand.

She staggered over towards a side road, seemingly lost in a daze. On coming out through the other side, she found herself at a small circular plaza, not unlike the one Amy and Manimon had bumped into each other at, one time. She grew distracted from the frozen fountain, looking at the way the fading sunlight tinted and refracted from the solid, glassy surface. That's when she got her next unpleasant surprise.

Something grey and stone-like was being distorted by the crystalline fountain, which hinted at something unsettling. Slowly forcing herself around, whilst curious, she also felt nauseated from her growing anxiety, a tight knot forming in her stomach. The sight had her reeling back in shock and despair.

The statue behind the fountain was none-other than Barghestmon himself, frozen in a stance suggesting he had been in the middle of launching an attack. He must have been defending himself against Medusamon, when the gorgon had turned him to stone. Whatever tracks had been made previously in this area were long since buried under snow, with a thick blanket of the cold stuff layered over the big black dog's statue form.

If she had not come across him now, he may have gone undiscovered for who knows how long, and the thought upset her, as did the present situation facing her. When the shock had finally set in, it snowballed, causing an avalanche of fear, despair and grief to wash over her. Now, not only was she truly alone, with her friends left to an unknown fate, but her mentor was out of the game, too.

It was too much for her. After a period of sickening silence, sat staring up at him with rapidly watering eyes and quivering lip, the little white spaniel digimon burst into tears.

* * *

><p>Medusamon's group had never fled so hard or fast for their lives before. The moment she and her trackers had laid eyes on the large paw-prints, she'd ordered them to run as fast as they could to get away from the area. The three captives had been dragged along mercilessly, almost trampled several times in the mad stampede to escape.<p>

Nobody said a word the entire run, everyone too out of breath to be able to even speak. Medusamon kept ordering and urging her troops not to slow down or stop, for even a second. Eventually, a vast building came into view- the Imperial Palace shopping mall. Finally, everyone slowed down to a crawl once they were through the barren, snow-covered car park.

Exhausted, many digimon collapsed, straining to catch their breath after all the sprinting they'd been doing. They were sick, tired and hungry, and the entire trip had been a mess. They must have zigzagged around so many side streets after attempting to cover their tracks that it would have been confusing to anyone stumbling across the prints left in their wake after they gave up covering and took to fleeing.

Amy's chest felt like it was on fire, her face flushed red, sweat pouring down her arms and head. She could barely even think straight from the pain in her chest and legs.

"Joey... a-are you alright?" She managed to ask in a strained, airy voice. Wiping her arm across her forehead, she leaned back against the wall of the shopping center, coughing harshly.

He looked just as bad as Amy did. Sweat poured from his face, made his blonde hair stick to him in clumps. "I'm... I'm OK Amy... how about you?" He panted, his breath strained in his chest as he tried to calm his breathing down.

"I... I'm fine...," she coughed, rubbing her arms. As the cold began to hit into her again, she felt sore and achy all over. "I'm just hoping Laelapmon is alright... she was supposed to be following us, but she wouldn't have known that everyone was going to freak out over some giant foot-prints..."

Manimon hauled himself over to them and rested against Joey's legs "Laelapmon is a smart ol' girl, Amy...she'll find us eventually" He smiled warily up at his human friend, though his eyes betrayed his true thoughts. He doubted even the best tracker alive could locate them after all that, and it did little to reassure him and Amy otherwise.

"Manimon's right..." Joey agreed, taking his coat off and putting it over Amy's shoulders. "I'm sure Laelapmon will come soon enough... though it may take her some time after all the bobbing and weaving we had to endure to get here."

"What could even make tracks that size, anyway?" Amy asked worriedly, finally catching her breath, though still sounding a tad wheezy. She pulled Joey's coat a little more securely around herself, still feeling a tad light-headed.

"Ikkakumon." Medusamon answered quite suddenly, from behind them. She had recovered very quickly, from her own breathlessness, "an infected one... it's the reason we're even in this mess!"

From the tone of her voice, she was both angry and bitter from the revelation that Ikkakumon had still hounded them this far out of the digital world, lost in it's blood lust to kill. The fact that it was infected meant even more stress for the three captives.

"Being that as it may..." The blonde boy started, as calmly as he could muster "What you're doing now is putting _innocent people_ in grave danger. Or do you not care about that?" His fists clenched thinking about all those people trapped in compact freezers of houses or apartments.

"I prioritize the safety of my crew above strange humans who would have attacked us on sight," Medusamon snarled back. She pushed Joey over onto his behind, towering over him angrily, "All that matters in life is survival, and all that matters to you are the ones you hold dear. This is true of even you humans, I'm sure! And I will do anything at all, absolutely _anything_, to see that me and my crew survive this mess you humans unleashed on us!"

Joey clambered back up after being shoved to the ground, glaring frustratedly up at the snake woman digimon, looking confused at what had been said to him. "What do you mean by what we humans have unleashed? What did humans ever do to your people?"

"There is a pocket dimension that was discovered, and it links straight to an egg nursery hosted on Arch Angel's server. Even if you don't know what that is, everyone in the digital world knows about Arch Angel." She snapped back icily, returning his glare from behind her blindfold, "Not even a few months after the discovery, a virus appeared and turned the entire world in on itself! A civil war began, between both the infected, and the non-infected. Anyone accused of even being a carrier, or hanging around suspected carriers got sent to Quarantined Sectors, created by the royal knights, that are a one-way trip to hell! Digimon began to board up their homes, monitor their territory so carefully that outsiders were driven away.

"When virus infected areas began to erode and decay areas they encroached on, those territories began to increase, driving neighboring areas to fight with each other for more land. Our home was one such territory, and we were driven inside, our backs to the wall, and the aggressor in all this, that Ikkakumon, just keeps coming, and it's you human's fault!"

"I'm sorry you had to go through all that hardship, but you're wrong. Arch Angel wouldn't do something so inhumane! It just doesn't make sense." Joey pointed accusingly at the snake woman "What proof do you have that Arch Angel was the one who caused such anarchy to the Digital World?"

"The Heraldic Knights are why we know as much as we do! They're the only ones left, now, trying to form an ounce of order in all the chaos that has befallen our home..." Medusamon growled back, folding her arms agitatedly across her chest. She was getting tired of these captives and their questioning, when she felt that she and her crew were the victims, and were justified in their extreme survival methods. "Their leader is the one studying the rift between servers, fishing for more information... besides, there is also _common sense._ Where the hell else do you suppose that virus could have come from? Viruses are not _born_, they are _created_. Arch Angel's server space is that link, and that is more than enough reason for me to believe they're behind all of this!"

Before any more discussion could take place, there came a loud smashing sound. The Mojyamon and Frigimon pair left in charge of shattering the build up of ice and glass on the entrance into the mall had succeeded in breaking their way in. Immediately, the other digimon that had been resting around the captive trio stood up, and grabbed ahold of their quarry, hauling them to their feet.

"I've had enough of your questioning and finger-pointing, we don't owe you any explanation..." Medusamon spat angrily, leading everyone inside. "Right! You five, there, I want you to scout about and report back with a lay of this place, specifically, some place that can serve as a prison for these three. And you two, I want you to search the captives and disarm them!"

Whilst the first five digimon she had chosen went off to get an idea of how big the place was, the other two, a SnowAgumon and a SnowGoburimon got to work confiscating the tamer's stuff. Their bags were turned inside out, the contents spilling out onto the floor. The D-Drives buzzed harshly as they clattered to the floor.

Amy and Joey attempted to dive for their D-Drives in panic, but the gorgon digimon swung her tail, forcing them to jump back again to avoid being struck down. The wicked smile on Medusamon's face made both tamers feel sick, as she reached down and pick both D-Drives up, smirking at them tormentingly.

"Yes, I know what these are. They're important to you, aren't they? They let digimon digivolve with the help of their human partners..." She commented, attempting to press the buttons, though oddly, the devices would not react to her input at all, which made her frustrated. No matter how much she pressed and clawed at the buttons, the device refused to operate for, as if it would only accept input from human hands. "Ugh! Fragile things, they're broken already?"

Amy and Joey both looked crestfallen as the snake woman tossed the supposedly dead devices back to them angrily.

"Fine, I don't care, have the damn things back! But the one thing this has proven to me is that there is another digimon out there, somewhere..." Slithering across the tiled floor smoothly, she leaned forward, so her head was near level with Amy's. "Nice try, sweetheart. Trying to trick us into thinking you were just another dead-weight to those two, there..."

Amy swallowed, her legs shaking under her. She refused to give in, the same as Joey. When they were already at the bottom of everything, where else was there to go but up? Joey reached for her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, just what she needed, considering what she heard next.

"You know what? I've had enough. You lot are more trouble than you're worth! Did you take us to be _idiots_?!" the frustration and anger from everything not going Medusamon's way, with nothing going as planned bar getting to the mall had finally gotten to her, "I want whatever digimon you've left in reserves to be _killed_ on _sight,_ and if that Ikkakumon shows up, you three are going to be the bait!"

"That's a coward's solution, isn't it?!" Manimon yelled, struggling against the SnowGoburimon restraining him, "Throw out innocent people so you can save your own sorry skin! I know how it is, now! You could have fought for your territory, if it mattered to you THAT much, but you deserted your home, and fled like the cowards you really are!"

The rabbit was silenced by a hard, sharp smack to the face, Medusamon striking him furiously. Hissing with rage, it took everything she had to hold back on killing him there and then. Joey was beginning to struggle now, yelling at her to back off, whilst Manimon slumped in the SnowGoburimon's hold, glaring fiercely up at her, where his cheek stung and throbbed painfully.

At this moment, the scouts returned and gave Medusamon their report of the layout of the mall, including a place where the three crestfallen captives would be held for safe-keeping, until it was time to sacrifice them off.

They would be held in the basement part of the mall, where the storage, janitorial equipment and the back-up generator was held. All three were lead off helplessly in silence to await their fate in imprisonment under Medusamon's rule.

* * *

><p>The tears Laelapmon had shed were near frozen to her cheeks. She was still sat with the statue of Barghestmon, leaning mournfully against one of his legs, staring off into space. Her eyes were so blurry, and the white and grey scenery around them both seemed to blur into nothing. Time had stood still, in this little spot in the middle of the city.<p>

The sky was growing dark now, and only a few street lamps in the plaza even worked correctly. Shifting stiffly, Laelapmon backed away from her mentor, and regarded him one last time.

"As long as you can fight, there is always a chance of victory..." she spoke aloud, and although her voice was soft, it seemed so audible in the silent, empty square that it made her surroundings seem so much more eerie, "That's what you said, during training..."

Turning, she forced herself to look away. Even though her mentor was now immortalized in his stony form, unable to see, hear or react to her, she did not want to look at him with tears steadily welling up in her eyes once more. The faint night wind was slowly picking up, and she had to get moving before she froze to death out in this bitter wasteland that hid the city beneath it's icy grip.

"I'm... I'm going to get them back!" she called out, to no-one, her wavering voice echoing down empty, ghostly streets. "I... I can still fight.. I'm still free... I can do this."

_I can't do this..._

That one, brief flicker of doubt was enough to unleash the wave of tears that had been building up. She was too upset and consumed with guilt to allow herself even one last look at Barghestmon as she fled, her feet kicking through the snow, stumbling and sliding everywhere in a mad bid to run. She had absolutely no idea where she was running to, but she had to get away from that plaza, away from the bad feelings it gave her, the absolute hopelessness that had gripped her from the shock of Barghestmon's fate.

He would be so ashamed of her, she was sure. She already felt ashamed of herself enough for allowing darker thoughts to get to her like this. It felt like there was a war going on inside her mind and heart, wrestling with herself internally, hope versus dread, lost in the sea of uncertainty that refused to budge from the back of her mind.

The guilt surfaced again. Amy had been so positive Laelapmon would get to them. Joey and Manimon were counting on her, too. Barghestmon, Marina, Darren and their digimon were imprisoned in what may as well be rocky coffins. The young man who had turned up and needed rest, Kai, couldn't be faring much better in the chilly apartment.

The absolute enormity of the burden weighing down on her shoulders suddenly hit her like the force of an oncoming train, all of these people relying on someone as useless and weak as her to save them, and she couldn't do it. Not on her own.

Something caught her front paws and the small white pup went hurtling forward, head over heels, sending clouds of powder snow up after her, as she went crashing forward into the soft, snowy ground. Ahead, she could hear something rough and raspy, and at first, was too dazed to be able to make out the sound clearly. Had it been the wind, or... breathing?

Had she not been already as white as snow, all the colour would have visibly drained from her face as she saw ahead of her the very thing that had caused Medusamon's group to flee the scene and cover their tracks, the one whom owned the paws capable of imprinting those deep, formidable prints in the snow. Her strength deserted her, leaving her shaking harder than the cold winds had, as she cowered and recoiled in fear.

Staring back at her down the darkened road ahead, amidst wreckage of crushed cars and completely mangled street lamps, some sending out sparks from broken circuits and flickering bulbs, stood the heavily decayed and rotting form of a deeply infected Ikkakumon.

Most of the skin and fur on what had once been an impressively large walrus-like digimon looked as if it had been burned or ripped off, exposing the wire-frame beneath the body all digimon had. It was to Laelapmon as a zombie would look to a human being. Milky, pupil-less eyes stared back at her, piercingly. This thing that was now slowly hauling itself towards her, with strides even she would not be able to outrun.

But perhaps the most frightening thing was that, no matter how hard she stared into those milky-white eyes, she found no trace of intelligence, or anything that indicated sanity. No logic, no emotion, no reasoning. This thing was below even that of normal animals; a killing machine running on instinct and blood lust, that would fight even when the amount of rot and decay began to eat away at it's body, let alone flesh.

This is not how she wanted things to end. But this was it; her time had come. She was going to die in this miserable place, and everything would end. Neo Tokyo would wither and die in the casket of ice and snow encasing it, she could do nothing to save her friends. It was all over.

Laelapmon was going to die.

* * *

><p>"Oof!"<p>

"Hey, watch it!"

The group of ice rookie digimon shoved the three captives unceremoniously into their make-shift prison in an old storage room in the basement of the store, where the generator and janitorial things were kept. After sneering at the tamers and rabbit, the 'guards' back out of the room, closing it up, and blocking the door up with a broom through the handle to prevent them from getting out.

"As if that broom will hold that door shut with ME around..." Manimon smirked, pounding his fists together in a challenging mood, all of a sudden, "If that's the best they can do, I'll easily bust us out of here! Digivolve time, Joe?"

However, he was soon deflated by Joey's refusal to initiate digivolution. Sighing, he straightened his glasses where he and Amy had been picking themselves up off the floor.

"What good will that do? There's too many, and besides, fighting Medusamon, if we got that far, will be useless. Remember what happened to the others?" sitting on a crate nearby, Joey folded his arms. He felt down, and utterly lost. There was absolutely no way that he could see them escaping, let alone setting things right. A series of beeps caught his attention, and he looked over at Amy, who despite everything, was engrossed in her D-Drive. "What are you up to, there, Amy? Without Laelapmon, or the others, there's not much use to the D-Drive any more..."

Without looking up, the blonde student made her reply, flicking through menus and options on her D-Drive.

"I honestly can't believe you, talking like that, Joey!" She cried, in a chiding tone, "The fact we even still have our D-Drives on us is a stroke of luck, still."

Quickly hurrying to her side, she lowered her voice down, the light of hope still shining in her eyes.

"Joey... you should know how these things work better than anyone, considering _what company_ you work for..." She whispered, still sounding almost heartbreakingly hopeful, "Isn't there a way we can send out a distress call...? Or contact the Resistance, somehow...? I don't have any other ideas, but surely there's an option for this?"

"I have no idea, actually... I've never needed to make a distress call before now, so I'm not even sure if one was put in." Joey muttered, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. He produced his own D-Drive from the safety of his inner coat pocket and opened up the main menu, "Hmm... let's see what we've got..."

The ten minutes or so was spent, in total silence, in the dark room, sifting through the menus over and over. They sat, the space around them illuminated from the rectangular screens, scrutinizing every last section of their D-Drives, when Joey suddenly announced his findings.

"I think this is it. On the map and radar screen, there's an option to 'signal'. I think we can use it to send out a distress call to the Resistance!" Joey exclaimed with renewed faith. "I only hope it reaches them... or that this even works as a distress signal..."

He watched the blue dots representing themselves flicker, sending out pulses like the beating of a heart. Just as he remembered that he was thinking negatively again, and that Amy had wanted him to think positive, he noticed the sad, distant look in her eyes, as she was staring down at Laelapmon's profile on her screen.

"Amy..." Joey murmured, resting his hand on her shoulder, inquiring about what was bothering her. He knew something wasn't right, but asked her gently all the same, "is... everything alright?"

Laelapmon's health was gradually dropping, for some reason. There was just a little over half left, with no way of checking what was the cause of this damage. Was she being attacked? By whom? Or was the freezing night air finally getting to her? There was absolutely no way to tell... and it was breaking Joey's heart to see Amy staring in absolute shock and horror, filled with panic and anxiety, as she was forced to see Laelapmon's health slowly dropping more and more.

"Laelapmon..." Amy whispered, her eyes becoming blurry with tears of guilt and fear, "w-we shouldn't have left her behind... this shouldn't be happening..."

Joey so badly wanted to tell her to have faith, to believe in Laelapmon, that it would be okay. That she hadn't known this would happen. But no words seemed to come out of his mouth, no matter how hard he wished that they would. They'd need a miracle, now.

A soft clunk behind them caught their attention, making them turn to face the source of the noise. Manimon was standing by a vent grill which he had, whilst they'd been sending for help, removing from the wall with a screwdriver from one a repair toolbox on one of the crates. Joey immediately stood up, but his partner silenced him before he could get a word in, with a stare that could have melted ice.

"I'm getting out of here, and... I'm going to find her." His voice was steely and stern, completely unshakeable in his self-imposed mission. Joey had been surprised... despite Amy's worry for Laelapmon, she had been, until this point, with a sense of hope, and Manimon was now showing a resolve, and such a strong concern and drive to protect someone other than Joey or himself. He was amazed and touched by how they had managed to hold up in these bleak and unthinkable situations.

"I'm not going to stop you... but be careful. You're our only hope, now, Manimon... but you're also my _partner_." Joey replied, trying to keep the worry out of his voice. "Just... give this everything you've got, okay? No regrets."

"No regrets." Manimon repeated, his voice softening more. "Joey, Amy... in case anything... in case I don't make it back... I just wanted to tell you both, you've been a pleasure to work with. I've had fun, since we started all this hero stuff..."

"Manimon..." Joey murmured. Now his eyes were growing misty. "Don't say stuff like that... of course you'll be coming back, right?"

Manimon got down onto his knees, and without even a backward glance, lit up the vent shaft, his horn giving off a gentle glow.

"I gotta be off, now." the rabbit digimon lamented quietly, "see you guys... love you both. Don't forget that."

And with that, Manimon was gone, vanishing out of sight down the vent system, leaving Amy and Joey to sit in silence, wrapped in guilt and worry for their beloved partners.

* * *

><p>The roar that sounded from the infected Ikkakumon was unlike anything Laelapmon had ever heard in her life. The grating of grinding metal, mixed with the screech of dial-up and the faint remnant of Ikkakumon's former voice, racked with agony, a primal, beastly scream.<p>

"HAR-KSSSSHHNNN-TORPE-KSSSSHHOOOAARRR"

Ikkakumon's decaying body and voice were a garbled, glitchy mess. This truly was no digimon before her any more, but an abomination. The horn on the infected walrus's head launched haphazardly, and had this been a normal Ikkakumon, perhaps it would have hit perfectly, but each shot so far had missed, striking into a bus, then blasting a bus shelter to smithereens, and then this one leaving a crater in the icy road, but not before the resulting explosion sent Laelapmon flying backwards, slamming bodily into a car which had been over turned and sent flying previously by a swipe from her far stronger opponent.

She cried out in pain from the impact, her body giving a dangerous flicker, data particles shimmering up and down her body. She was quickly approaching the stage of deletion, and she could barely move her pain-racked body any more.

Just as she was preparing to succumb to her wounds, staring in fear and dismay as Ikkakumon readied it's last attack on her, something happened. From off to the side, she could make out a teenager, in a loose-fitting white shirt and dark shorts, barefoot, with wild hair that covered his (or even her) eyes. This had to be...

"K-Kid...?" Laelapmon croaked sorely, her voice weak and barely audible. It hurt to speak, let alone stand, but she desperately tried clawing her way towards him, "P-Please... y-you've g-got to run...!"

Ikkakumon turned it's hideously malformed head towards the stranger, and with another garbled, glitched out roar, fire off it's next Harpoon Torpedo, straight for Kid.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Laelapmon stared in horror, her eyes growing large in shock, as she saw the oncoming torpedo heading straight for Kid... however, she just barely felt a strange, spine-chilling energy sweep over her. What happened next was so shocking that it barely registered in Laelapmon's mind for a moment.

Hold out one hand, his palm facing outwards towards the torpedo, Kid seemed to mysteriously 'halt' the projectile, as if holding it in place. Gesturing using his hand, which was balled tightly, as though he were gripping something that wasn't there, he twisted it back to face Ikkakumon, and then seemed to release it, returning it straight back to it's sender.

Ikkakumon squealed it's glitchy, grating mess of a scream as it was hit, whilst Kid took the opportunity to rush over to Laelapmon's side. She couldn't feel him at all as he lifted her into his arms carefully, at least, not conventionally. Her body trembled, rippled and convulsed again, where her health was still critical... at least she would die in the arms of a friend. The shock and awe she had felt over Kid's mysterious power was overcome by an overpowering sense of weakness, as the world around her seemed to grow hazy.

"I'm sorry..." she apologized softly, her eyes slipping shut. "I can't hold out any more..."

Kid ran as fast as his legs could carry, the ankle deep snow not even slowing him in the slightest, glancing over his shoulder. Ikkakumon had been driven into a frenzy, cheated out of a kill it had craved, beating it's huge paws against the ground so hard the ground shuddered and thundered underfoot.

"I'm going to make you better... please hold on, just a little longer." Kid murmured, smiling down at her reassuringly. He held out his hand, his palm facing out towards the pursuing Ikkakumon once more, and Laelapmon could see, just barely, the lumbering beast smack hard into an invisible barrier, the only indication of it even being there revealed by water-like ripples and multi-coloured sparks of energy distorting across the air where Ikkakumon had crashed. It had been so sudden and unexpected that the infected monster had seemingly knocked itself out from it's own weight against the force field.

"That should take care of him, for a while..." Kid commented, as he continued running with her. Somehow, this stranger seemed to know just where he was going, carrying the little dog digimon purposefully as if on auto-pilot.

"How... is that even possible...?" Laelapmon murmured, still in disbelief, as she stared numbly back at the distant, unconscious infected champion, "How... did you do that?"

However, Kid simply smiled, without answering her questions. "Let's get some place safe, first... then I'll heal you."

Heading down a side street, they came out facing a large car park, and a huge shopping mall, easily the largest building Laelapmon had seen in this area. Kid knelt down, setting her small self down on the snow.

"I can't go any further with you, after this..." he murmured regretfully, smiling apologetically down at her, "But Manimon, and your humans, are trapped in there. They've been waiting for you..."

He placed one hand just over her forehead, and another over her chest, where her digicore was, in place of a heart. Before she had time to question what he was doing, a soft, warm glow seemed to emanate from him, travelling through his body, and passing through his hands and into hers.

The pain she had been in seemed to slowly but steadily fade until only a tingling sensation remained, and it felt so warm and soothing, it put her worries to rest. He had healed her, with this strange power of his. Whilst her health was back on top form, she was still tired, cold and hungry, but this was a vast improvement over the condition she had previously been in.

"Just... what are you?" she asked, after the light faded off, the healing process seemingly finished. He stroked her ears with a touch that seemed wispy and soft, almost non-existent.

"A friend." the teen grinned, poking his tongue out at her. "I have to go, now... I used up too much energy, back there... but before I leave, there are guards protecting the front entrance. If you go around the back, you'll find a vent you can use to get inside."

Just as he was about to stand, Laelapmon placed her paws on his knees, and stood on her hind legs so that she could meet him face to face, where she gave his nose a lick of gratitude.

"Thank you, so much... I would have died, without your help..." she told him, staring at his hair-covered face with a look of tender adoration. She had no doubt that despite the unnatural powers, that he was a good person. "Will you tell us who you are, one day?"

"When I know the answers to that, I will." Kid replied, ruffling her ears again. Standing up straight, he nodded to her, "Look after Manimon, for me... and take care."

Laelapmon watched Kid leave, heading back the way he came. When she followed to peer after him around the corner, he had already vanished off just as mysteriously as he'd appeared. After letting everything that had transpired sink in, she remembered what he'd said about the mall, and how to get inside.

Now focused on her friends, she hurried back towards the shopping center as fast as her icy legs would allow her. The time to the confrontation with Medusamon was steadily approaching, and she needed to get there for when that time came.

* * *

><p>Sometime later, after carefully removing the vent grill using Gale Blade, working as quickly and quietly as she could to get the grill cover off of the wall, Laelapmon crawled her way into the mall. Passing through many twists and turns, Laelapmon came to another grill that overlooked a large, open seating area, surrounded by a good many restaurants and fast food eateries. After getting the next grid off using Sonic Boom, which caused the metallic grid to crash to the floor loudly, echoing through the empty hall, the small canine gingerly dropped down.<p>

She landed smack on top of the grill, and clumsily crawled over to hide herself behind the ramp leading down into the seating area, to rest. She was so cold, hungry and exhausted, she could barely keep her eyes open, and had no idea Manimon was even close by until he spotted her.

Manimon had been crawling through vents for ages, finding places where he could ascend back up onto ground level. It was only as he'd been passing through that he'd heard the clang from the fallen grid, and after searching the area carefully, found Laelapmon's unconscious body.

"L-Laelapmon?" He murmured, lifting her up as best he could into his arms. "How did you get here so fast?"

Looking around, he found a few restaurants that had been broken into and looted, most likely by Medusamon's cronies earlier whilst everyone was still captured. Hoisting Laelapmon over his back, he carried her on his back over to one of the vandalized diners and brought her through. Meat, fish and vegetables laid scattered everywhere, and he bit his lip after setting her down, hope he could find something for her. They'd both gone without food all day and wouldn't be able to digivolve on low energy when they broke Joey and Amy out of imprisonment.

Finding a can opener in one of the drawers, he heated up some soup in the microwave, which thankfully worked due to the mall's back-up generator. Not the best way for doing things, he decided, but this was quick and convenient, especially if the goons came back for more.

The smell of tomato and basil soup seemed to rouse Laelapmon back to her senses, her nose twitching, and eyes fluttering open tiredly.

"Manimon...?" she blinked up at him in confusion. He had her head resting in his lap after he'd settled back onto the floor with the bowl of soup at the ready. He gently shushed her so that she would save what remained of her energy for drinking, and helping her hold her head up a little, fed the soup to her.

"Shhh... just relax, rest, and drink this up..." he urged, pressing a spoonful of the delicious, hot stuff past her lips. "Geez, you had us all scared..."

Laelapmon licked the spoon clean appreciatively, managing a sleepy little smile up at him. "You know... you're actually a very nice digimon, behind that fiery personality of yours... I like this side of you, very much."

The pale furred rabbit felt himself blush so strongly he was positive it was visible through his fur, which bristled up in embarrassment from her comment.

"Y-Yes, w-well..." he coughed slightly, helping himself to a quick spoonful as he alternated between feeding her and himself, "D-Due to circumstances, w-we gotta take care of each other, r-right?"

Laelapmon kept smiling, amused at having flustered him. It cheered her up immensely, seeing more of his old spark coming back to him.

"Yes, quiet." She agreed, nodding a little. After another mouthful, each sample sending jolts of warmth circulating through her, she asked, "...Were you really that worried about me, Manimon?"

He swallowed hard, almost choking on his next spoonful of soup.

"'C-'Course not! I knew you'd b-be okay... i-it's not like I was worried or anything, what gave you that idea?" He muttered dismissively, but his increasing flusteredness and embarrassment showed otherwise. After feeding her the rest of the soup, having suddenly lost his appetite, he wiped her mouth clean for her, watching her face almost bashfully. "...Was it really that obvious...? Of course I was worried... you're like, my best friend, next to Joey."

Laelapmon grinned almost knowingly, leaning up to lick his nose.

"Thank you for taking good care of me, Manimon. I'll try not to let any of you worry any more..." trying to stifle a yawn, the little dog, completely full-up, now, settled down against him. "I'm sorry... I just need to rest my eyes a moment..."

Manimon watched as she fell asleep in his arms, finally allowing himself to smile now she was on the road to recovery. He'd never been so relieved in all his life. Despite their differences and their occasional spats, the pair had grown to care for each other as much as they did their own partners.

* * *

><p>Amy had been squeezing Joey's hand so tight she'd almost crushed it by accident. Both had been sat in one corner, wrapped up in musky old cloth and linen to keep warm, staring down at Amy's D-Drive. A miracle really had happened, and fate had spared Laelapmon, it seemed.<p>

Her health had been restored seemingly to the max, just on the edge of the radar, and then they'd watched her icon enter the building, where eventually, Manimon's icon had bumped into her. He must have fed her, because her energy and fatigue levels were raising and lowering respectively. Hope was restored; their digimon were safe, and recovering.

Just as they were holding back on a cheer of success at the change of fate, did their second bit of luck appear.

The distress signal had been responded to. Amy recognized Sayo's name flash up on Joey's D-Drive as her having received the signal. Finally, some good was happening to them.

They were going to be rescued, and with the Resistance on hand, they stood a chance of fighting back.


	9. The Hunters and the Hunted

The sky was still grey and cloudy an hour after the four Agents were sent on their mission. It was close to midday when they had finally been sent out from the Arch Angel building. All four had been sent the emergency signal at around midnight, and had arrived at work during the blizzard before the build up had gotten as bad as it had done, and after being given their briefing and all the information the Oculusmon had gathered, had spent the remaining time prepping up for the day ahead.

Agent J, Agent B, Agent L and Agent Z - otherwise known as Jasper, Bao, Leo and Ziva were trudging through the snow, carrying heavy bags slung over their backs and shoulders, handguns kept in holsters by their sides for their own self-defense, with longer, uniquely-built rifle-like guns, an invention of scientists at Arch Angel, created for use of a special capsule-like bullet, in a pouch just below their handguns.

These were four of the best Agents to hand, and the best of the local area; there were Agents spread out all over japan, but these were the ones deemed best suited for the job. Despite the overwhelming numbers, the four Agents had gotten consistently high marks from training, both themselves and their digimon. Now was the time to put all of that training to the biggest test most of them had ever faced to date.

Walking alongside them were their digimon partners, whom weren't saying much. Jasper and Ziva's partners, Yalimon and Panthermon, were taking the lead as trackers, oddly quiet today, with the remaining two: a lilac ferret digimon with a sleek body, Minkmon, and a cream-coloured two-legged squirrel, who was the tallest of the rookies (coming just up to Leo's shoulders), Risumon, awkwardly avoiding each other.

Everyone had mostly kept silent, but sensing Leo, the youngest and newest of the members, was still feeling uneasy, had been chatting casually for a little bit... or at least, Jasper and Bao had been. Ziva, the only female of the human four, had kept to herself.

"I'm thinkin' we have at least fifteen minutes until we reach the area our feathered friend is at, goin' by what Miyuki's sent us," Jasper commented to the group, reading a message from his D-Drive without looking up. Because of his distraction, he ended up walking clean into Ziva's back, almost knocking her clean over.

With a soft gasp, Ziva staggered and wobbled forward, tipping over suddenly- she reached behind for Jasper in a bid to save herself, clawing at his coat, as he hurriedly grabbed her arm to help. Pulling her around, he managed to get her upright, holding her securely against his chest, his jacket having come undone slightly from her frantic grabbing at him.

She breathed out, her hands pressed against his chest, before she seemed to take in what had happened, and caught up with herself.

"O-Oh you idiot! Watch where you're going!" she snapped, her face flushed red from embarrassment at the close proximity between them, and even more so seeing him grinning down at her like a cheshire cat.

"You just couldn't wait to get my coat off, could you, Zee-zee?" He smirked, amused at her reaction, which he found rather cute, considering she was usually so serious and fiery. She swatted at him, straightening herself up, hiding her face more under the faux-fur trimmed hood over her head.

"God... you're so infuriatingly embarrassing! Just have some professionalism and focus on the job, okay?!" she snapped, marching on ahead haughtily. He always seemed to know just what buttons to press to have her feeling flustered, how to get past her icy defenses. No other person dared to tease her- but then again, not many people dared to spend much time around her, and secretly, deep inside, she liked having him around, even if his constant teasing drove her up the wall.

Jasper continued to smirk after her playfully, before he called out after her cheerfully, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively, "I can focus on something else now you're walking ahead of me, sweetie-boo!" to which he received a snowball to the face from the dark blue-haired Agent, whose face was now so red and hot he was tempted to cheekily march up and warm his hands on her cheeks, but he decided to spare her any more grief. Even the red-haired goofball knew when Ziva had clearly had enough.

"S-She's not m-mad, is she...?" Leo's voice sounded from just behind Jasper. He was so shy and quiet sometimes that it always came as a surprise to hear him talk, and when he did, he usually stammered and stuttered- something he was still working on at speech therapy. "I-It's not nice to t-tease p-people..."

Jasper grinned and dropped back a bit so he could walk level with Leo and Bao, who was being his usual, stoic self. The tall redhead ruffled his colleague's hair affectionately in a brotherly way.

"Nah, she's okay. I know her better than anyone, considering we've lived together for a few years now," Jasper remarked in a casual tone, folding his hands behind his head, "she's all bark and no bite, really."

"If you say so, Jas," Bao's voice sounded from just behind them.

Bao unzipped the bag slung over his shoulder that had their gear and a few rations inside and produced a flask, which contained delicious and hot oxtail soup. Pouring some into the lid, which served as a cup, he handed it to Leo.

"Here, Leo, get some warmth down you," he murmured, getting out a roll for Leo to soak up some soup with, "we've got a long day ahead of us. It might help with your nerves."

The slender lilac ferret digimon trotting off to their side turned to look up at her squirrel colleague, fixing her with a sly, side-long glance.

"I forgot that this is young Leo's first mission," the ferret, Minkmon, commented, "Mmm-hmm-hmm... a total _virgin_ agent, with a _virgin_ digimon. I hope his stammery shyness and inexperience doesn't slow us down..."

Risumon clenched her fists, her eyes narrowing in anger. Minkmon was a snarky, cynical and overly critical digimon, and Risumon had been dreading working with her on a big mission like this for a while now. Risumon was the "newest" of the Agent's digimon, having worked under Arch Angel for only three years now.

On moving from America to Japan with his family for his artistic parents to draw inspiration from the eastern world, Leo had been 'caught' in action by the other three agents disposing of a wild digimon threatening an old folk's home. He was offered the position on the spot due to Risumon's talents at quickly disposing anything that came up against her, due to her and Leo protecting their area since a young age.

Despite proving themselves to their employers, with Risumon gaining certain... 'immunities'... that would have normally befallen any other digimon caught by Arch Angel (such as owning a 'genuine' D-Drive born from the digital world's power, and not Arch Angel) they were treated as a special case and gained some degree of fame in their sector.

But this had also drawn either jealousy or criticism from older and more experienced Agents, especially concerning Leo's nervous disposition. The fact that he stuttered and stammered and trembled, uncomfortable around crowds, and became nervous around people he was not familiar engaging him in out-of-the-blue conversation had a lot of people talking behind their backs, insisting he was not cut for the job. Both Leo and Risumon were eager to disprove this... this job had gotten him away from his family, and while his parents were alright, it was his brothers that had caused numerous problems for both growing up, which made Risumon uncomfortable to remember.

Thankfully, however, outside of Minkmon, this group he had been assigned to had been accepting of him, and Bao had been an excellent mentor, always looking after Leo at work. It was just a shame he was partnered with an unpleasant and intolerable digimon such as Minkmon.  
>"I can take care of Leo just fine! You don't need to worry about us," Risumon replied, unable to keep the ire out of her voice. clenching her fists and making sure to put some distance between herself and the purple pest that usually pushed all the wrong buttons.<p>

It was amazing, for all the training these two did, that they had never fought against eachother, and Minkmon, like now, took every opportunity to try to bait and goad Risumon into snapping. The ferret smirked, where it was usually so easy for her to get the desired reaction she wanted from nearly all her targets. The only time this failed seemed to be on Jasper and Yalimon, who were too laid-back and took everything in their stride, and Bao, who was above all of that.

"Ri-Risumon...?" Leo called over, looking slightly flushed to having to raise his voice from a barely audible muttering to near normal sound levels. Obediently, she hurried over, checking him over worriedly like a mother hen.

"Leo, is something wrong?" she asked, her voice and expression softening. Risumon always seemed to radiate gentleness around him, and prioritized his happiness above everything else in her life.

"N-No! I-I mean... I'm f-fine, I just... I'd f-feel guilty having s-soup, if... y-you know... w-we didn't share..." Her tamer turned to look down at the snowy ground, feeling embarrassed over himself. "H-Here, p-please..."

Minkmon watched in silent envy as Leo offered Risumon the cup of soup, and the remaining half of the bread.

Leo's family was rich, and lived in a huge and expensive house in the more upper-class part of the city, and so he and Risumon had never gone without, and even though they now lived alone in a small apartment, they still had lived a generally comfortable life, in Minkmon's eyes.

Meanwhile, Bao had come from a family struggling to make ends meet running a martial arts dojo in a less-savoury part of town, and it wasn't until Bao's mother had made it big as a rising film star for martial arts-based movies did business really began booming; everyone wanted to study at the place where his mother had practised her skills.

But before this, things had been such a struggle, the small family had been clawing to hold onto the edge and had nearly been forced to sell up several times. Until his mother's success, they had been inching around the poverty line. Bao's room had been barren, and his two younger brothers shared their room with him in the cramped apartment space above the dojo, which comprised simply of the family's two bedrooms, an office, a small bathroom with a toilet and shower, and an open kitchen and living room. Minkmon had still remembered the times they'd been unable to pay for the heating bills and slept in the cold, huddled together.

It had been one of the harshest winters the year Bao had found her on the way back from school, where she had been in her smallest form, Furomon. He'd found her down some alley, lost, frightened, and shivering with cold, and had taken her in, a secret only he and his brothers had ever known about, where his parents had always believed her to be a toy Bao had found, and hadn't suspected a thing. They rarely got toys, anyway.

He'd worked all his life to get them to where they were now, but his ambitions were not in fighting digimon his whole life, but to open a restaurant. He loved cooking, and coming from a home that did not have a lot of food to live on, perhaps inwardly hoped that in doing so, could do the thing he loved as well as spoil his brothers with food that wasn't cheap, crappy convenience-store trash, as Minkmon had always put it. It was all thanks to her own skills at fighting that they too had been noticed by Jasper and Ziva, and Bao was quickly moved into a much better home and they had gained things they had gone without for most of their lives, and in turn had gone on to recruit Leo, whom Minkmon inwardly felt 'owed' her and Bao for being the ones to get him the position he was working under in the first place.

But this, as well as the stark contrast between her life and Risumon's had placed a firm wedge between the two that had only increased over time, with neither one making an effort to behave even if their tamers were close friends, with Bao spending a lot of his time hanging out with Leo and helping with their side of the training.

Minkmon turned to look at Bao out the corner of her eyes. Now it was her turn to feel frustrated. She knew he was waiting for her to ask him for food, too, or that he was holding back on offering her some edibles on purpose, because she had deemed asking for things as being 'beneath her'.  
>Minkmon was, in her mind, after growing up with Bao with hardly anything to their names, entitled to anything she desired, and whatever she wanted, she took. The 'ferret property law' seemed almost ingrained into her greed-filled head. Whatever she set her paws upon was 'hers' by right, or so she had always believed.<p>

Bao smiled at her, returning the sidelong glance down at her, knowingly. She scurried over and clambered up his body to perch across the back of his shoulders, her tail loosely slung around his neck like a living scarf. Whilst he sometimes wished she would behave more, he loved spoiling her, now he could afford to do so.

"If you want something, all you have to do is ask," he told her, as he reached for some more bread rolls. Offering one to her, she begrudgingly accepted it, avoiding eye contact. She was too 'above' asking, and voraciously tore at the bread in silence.

"You know that whatever I want, I take, dearest Bao..." she muttered breathlessly after finishing gulping down the roll. She rolled her eyes on catching him smiling at her again, "but I'll keep that in mind."

"You guys better take it easy on your eatin' back there," Jasper called from ahead, "we'll be doin' a lot of our usual duckin' and weavin' when we catch up to the bird."

"And going by the tracker, he's called in reinforcements," Ziva added, now taking her own turn to keep tabs on their target's activity, "and it looks like they've set-up a barricade. They know we're coming."

Yalimon looked over to Panthermon and nodded, a gesture which she understood and returned. Keeping her voice low, she whispered to him, "Don't forget, we have our own agenda today..."**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>On the other side of where Sastrugamon and his forces were holding out, the Resistance were also on the move.<p>

"So it looks like we're operating at about 50%," Skyler spoke up, hoisting his own bag up more. "So... remind me, why aren't Sayo and Neon with us?"

Everyone present were still suffering from stiff, aching joints, from having been sleeping in the damp, dank and impossibly dark rooms of their 'homes' in the 'underworld', and it had been as cold underneath the city as it was to walk through it. None of the long trip walking up here had eased any of the stiffness.

"Sayo's helping mom this morning," Seth replied, checking his own D-Drive for any updates on their target. "Since the snow began, a lot of the older people have been really feeling the cold, and a few of 'em are already really ill... Sayo's first-aid experience is gonna help take some of the stress off the nurses, so she's seeing to a few minor cases then she'll be coming up. And Neon is waiting by in order to make sure she's not on her own when she comes up."

Skye grinned at her brother after handing Clefmon a tissue after the pink songbird sneezed several times from the cold.

"Are you sure it's not just because you're worried about her?" she asked, giving him a playful prod in the arm.

Seth shot her a glare, feeling his face redden slightly. He knew exactly what she was hinting at .

"Look, I have faith in Sayo, it's just... that damn Tanukimon... I can't trust Tanukimon to take this seriously! She'll probably get herself drunk before they even hit the surface, and then who will look after her? That's why I sent Neon back. If I sent you, you'll just gossip to her behind our backs, and if I sent Skyler... if I sent Skyler, then..."

"Hey! I wouldn't hit on Sayo!" Skyler replied in a mock-hurt tone. "Dude, don't worry, I get it. She's off-limits. I wouldn't try wooing another guy's girl."

'The two skies' both began smirking and sniggering away over Seth's increasingly irate and embarrassed expression, and got ready to dodge incase he tried grappling them to the ground in anger.

"For god's sake, it's not like that! She's... you know she hasn't had as much experience doing this as us, and that sort of stuff might make her uncomfortable! I'm just trying to be a good leader, that's all... how Zeke would have wanted things."

There came an awkward silence at the mention of Zeke. He'd been missing for so long, and nobody that had been in the team when he was present had quite come to terms with his disappearance. Neon and Sayo had not been members during Zeke's time as the leader, and hadn't known much about him; the remaining three members did not like talking about him much in front of them. It hurt too much.

Eventually, Clefmon broke the silence.

"Heehee... you know, you say it might make Sayo uncomfortable, but she so wouldn't mind it coming from you, Seth~!"

Cadmemon seemed slightly uncomfortable at this teasing, though Seth didn't have enough time to try processing this information before the trio's D-Drives gave off a specific warning beep. SysOpmon had modified their D-Drives a number of times to do things the devices were normally not capable of. One such adjustment was to be able to give a warning signal when Agents were close by, and they'd made good use of it the second they had broke into the database long enough to glean several profiles of the Agents and their D-Drive details.

"Well, well, well. Look who's turned up to the party," Skyler commented, an impish grin across his face that could rival even the cheshire cat's. "If it ain't our old pals, Agent Z, Agent J, Agent B and Agent L."

"Also known as Ziva, Jasper, Bao and Leo," Cadmemon called up from behind. The digimon hadn't spoken much, where they'd been gearing themselves for the inevitable fighting that lay ahead of them.

"So, oh great and powerful leader," Skye called to her brother, cracking her knuckles, "what do you suggest we do now that this problem has developed?"

Seth was already ready with the answer to her question straight away, with perhaps their only option.

"We stick with the plan- only Chasemon is our sole spokesman now. Skyler, digivolve Chasemon and have Stratosmon get up to the tower on the construction site. Convince those digimon to come with us. We'll try to distract the Agents and stop them from interfering or killing any more digimon," he replied, patting his sister's shoulder. "Looks like it's just us now. Are you ready?"

Nodding in confirmation, his sister turned to look down at her very pink partner, "As ready as we'll ever be, right, Clefmon?"

"Right!" her partner chirped, clasping her claws together. She easily had the most optimism out of all three digimon present, out of which Cadmemon seemed to be anticipating a rough time ahead, and Chasemon, as always, had an air of submissive acceptance about him.

"Skyler? I'm ready to go." the purple gargoyle-like digimon announced, giving a little stretch, his winged arms held above his head as her prepared to digivolve.  
>"Alright. You be careful out there, those guys have a flying digimon, too," Skyler advised, as he initiated Chasemon's digivolution, Seth and Skye digivolving their partners in readiness as well.<p>

"Chasemon, digivolve to...!"

"Clefmon, digivolve to~!"

"Cadmemon, digivolve to...!"

Sparks of electricity crackled over the glowing forms of the three rookies as their bodies began to grow and change shape. The layers of skin peeled and burnt away, revealing the glowing wire frames beneath.

Chasemon became more wyvern-like, losing his hands as his arms transformed into true wings capable of flight. His feet became impressive talons, with a long curving tail that could smash anything it struck to pieces.

Beside him, Clefmon was undergoing her own changes. Her body began to grow taller. Her legs and arms becoming more athletic and black clothes forming over her. Mirrored wings grew from her back that sparkled like a disco ball and a feathered trim grew along her forearms.

Cadmemon's own transformation had her body maturing into an adult fox, no longer a chubby fox cub. Her body became longer and more slender, with both of her tails splitting again to now form into four, and her face become narrow and pointier, with her ears long and flowing.

"Stratosmon!"

"Melmon~!"

"Nogitsumon!"

The three champions stood before their tamers, sparks still crackling over their bodies as the effects of digivolution settled. The snow had melted down around them from the bright changes they had undergone, and now everyone was ready to get started.

"Skyler, I'm headin' out. Keep an eye out fer them Agents and their digimon." Stratosmon called down in his newer, much deeper voice. "I'll do my best t'get the bird an' his forces out."

And with that, the purple wyvern took off, followed closely by the Resistance as they approached from behind the barricade.

* * *

><p>Streams of data went shooting up into the sky like pillars of light, the sound of whooshing flames drowning out the screams of dying digimon, as the barricade set up against the Agents melted and broke apart from Alphynmon's attack, the searing flames so hot that the SnowGoburimon and Mojyamon trying desperately to hold the defense began to burn up from the intense heat, forcing those that did not die in the wall of flame far back up the formerly closed-off street.<p>

"Exalted Flame!" Alphynmon sounded over the roar of the fire he'd created, adding even more fuel to an already big flame. The Agents were at his back, having already digivolved their own digimon to their champion stages.

"Oh please, Alphynmon sweetie, take your time! We have all afternoon to do this, it's not like we have places to be or things to do," Martemon, who had formerly been Minkmon, commented over the crackle flame spreading across the remains of the barricade that had been built up.

Alphynmon tickled the giant ferret's nose tormentingly, grinning away. He took any of her jabs in good humour. "You be careful you're not the next target on my grilling list, missy."

"I've been keeping tabs on the enemy count; the numbers dropped from 15 down to 8. We've almost got these pawns out of the way, and then on to checkmate against the King," Ziva commented after checking her D-Drive.

"I'm fairly sure that's not how chess works." Jasper smirked, which earned him a light punch in the arm from an irate looking Ziva.

"Some professionalism, if you please," Bao chimed in, coughing politely. "The survivors fled and are freezing themselves into that tower up ahead."

Beyond where the barricade had been set up, a vast tower that had been in the middle of construction was ahead. Sastrugamon was most certainly roosting at the top, due to the fact every inch of the construction site and every vehicle parked there was encased in thick ice, likely to reinforce it against unwanted intruders such as themselves. The last of the surviving band of rogue digimon could be seen in the distance, hurriedly building up as much ice as possible to keep their foes shut out.

"Oooooh, idea~! What if we detonate the tower?!" Jasper asked, rubbing his hands together excitedly... which earned him a slightly harder punch from Ziva this time.

"What the hell do you take us for, the Acme Corporation?! What do you think will happen if we blow the tower up? It could come collapsing down on the surrounding buildings, which may very well have people holed up inside due to the home security systems!" she snapped, berating the redhead for all his worth. Jasper simply grinned and shielded his face from her constant swiping at him.

"Aww, Zee-zee, you have a heart after all!" he chuckled, dodging a smack aimed for the side of his head as his partner huffed in aggravation.  
>At that moment, Ratatoskmon, Risumon's champion form, felt a change in the flow of the wind, as something up above disturbed the breeze, something that, as a wind-based digimon, she felt very easily.<p>

"Leo, I think there's something else up there..." She said, keeping her voice low. Immediately, everyone present chose to look up at the sky in curiosity.

Aside from puffy clouds full of even more snow, there was nothing at all above. Ratatoskmon was still tense, however, and her long pointed ears were trained on the skies, listening out for the source of the disturbance. And then, she caught sight of it.

A vast shadow passed them over, with light refracting over the surface of something that was trying to cloak itself in some form of invisibility flying above them. Without even waiting for anyone's permission to investigate, she shot off up into the sky, unfurling the loose skin membranes connected to her arms and legs that gave her the ability to soar, something that normal, real flying squirrels would never be able to achieve.

She almost found herself smacking into the underside of the whatever-it-was, and the impact of their collision shocked the invisible being into exposing itself.

"You again-!" the flying squirrel gasped, as Stratosmon regained his composure after being knocked slightly off course.

"So, we meet again, squirrel-girl" the wyvern digimon replied nonchalantly in his gruff, deep tone. "If you don't get outta my way in three, I'mma blast yer squirrelly hide out of the sky!"

"Why don't you take your own advice and get lost? It's important we dispose of the snowbird quickly!" She fired back, floating in place in the sky. All at once, it was as if the wind had died around the two airborne titans.

"You even try layin' a claw on that digimon an' I'll dispose of you twice as quick, don't you worry yer pretty liddle head!"

Both the wyvern and flying squirrel digimon stared each-other down, as they began to circle around, preparing for battle, but their preparations were hastily cut short. A gunshot from below sounded, as a bullet grazed past Stratosmon's cheek, leaving a bloodied cut across his face.

His sharp eyes missed nothing; there was the shooter, down below. Leo raised his rifle again, taking aim at the purple dragon-like digimon antagonizing his partner, the fire burning in his eyes showing his determination. Unless Stratosmon got a move on, the next shot wouldn't miss.

Stratosmon narrowed his eyes at Ratatoskmon. The mission had been compromised on both ends, now that each team was on the scene and focused on the same target. He would have to get them, especially the dark-haired sniper aiming for him, off his back.

"So, yer humans are fightin' yer battles fer you, eh?" he growled, his cheek stinging from the bullet graze, "It'd be rude of me not to return th' gesture!"

Almost immediately, the giant wyvern began to descend straight down, diving straight down at the four agents and the ground-based digimon by their sides. Leo took aim and fired again, as Stratosmon's body began to coat itself in liquid metal. He tucked in his wings, now a living bullet of gigantic proportions, the bullet ricocheting off the wyvern's body of steel.

"Aero Bullet!"

As the other Agents began to run for cover, with their digimon preparing to engage, Leo held fast, hurriedly switching to his handgun now Stratosmon was growing too close to aim with the rifle. All five shots fired were deflected from the descending digimon, not even leaving a single mark. At this point, it was too late for Leo to run away, and he dived to one side, covering his head with his hands.

Stratosmon may have hit him, had his partner not have dived down after him, the scream of rage tearing from her throat snapping everything into action all at once. Flinging herself at Stratosmon, she clung to his metallic-coated form, trying to change his course, but it was like wrestling with a missile: dangerous and impossible.

He spun, performing barrell rolls and tail spins as he went, trying to force her off. She held tight, her arms and legs wrapped around him as he continued his high-speed flight. Drawing them both in, he rammed her into the side of a chain of empty offices, shattering through the windows as he dragged and scraped her painfully across the sides of the buildings they passed, still trying to force her off. The Agents and their digimon could barely keep up with what was happening, as Stratosmon drove them both through one side of another empty office complex and out of the other side, the shattered glass and bricks raining down from above, causing everyone to keep shifting positions to find new cover.

"Ratatoskmon!" Leo screamed, looking panic-stricken. When he caught sight of her again, her back had been sliced in several places from the broken glass and debris, and she seemed like she was barely keeping consciousness.

"Don't worry, I'll get that bastard!" Bao cried, getting out the special capsule gun that Arch Angel had been developing. Producing one of the capsule shells, which was completely spherical and seemed to glow an eerie light, he loaded it into the gun and took aim.

"Ratatoskmon! Let go!" Leo urged, yelling hoarsely, his expression full of worry as he felt anxiety gnawing away at the back of his mind.

Ratatoskmon's vision was blurry, and her head was pounding and aching, but she heard enough to register Leo's command, and released Stratosmon from her grip, spreading out her arms and legs as her skin membranes filled with air, allowing her to parachute down from the sky, where Leo ran out to her to keep her covered.

Stratosmon turned, confused, where he hadn't heard the order, and had no idea what was going to happen. A loud noise, like an electrical discharge sounded out, as something smashed hard into his chest. The black capsule burst open, sending several electrical pulses over his body, a cloud of pale pink powder erupting from the center and engulfing most of his chest and face. His left eye stung, and his flesh felt like it was on fire.

Roaring in agony, he began to fall from the sky, swerving down towards the construction site. He could just make out Skyler below, yelling at him to hold on as he ran after his descending partner.

With the sky battle finished and the initial shock over the events having settled in, the Agents began to regroup, now aware the Resistance were on hand.

"God damn it! It's those damn kids again!" Ziva snarled from where she and Jasper had been taking cover behind some iced cars. Panteramon was lurking dutifully by Ziva's side, awaiting further order.

"Risumon is in bad shape," Alphynmon commented, watching Bao and Martemon escorting Leo over. Leo was shaking all over, his eyes red and sore and wet with tears, holding Risumon's body in his arms.

"We're cut down to three," Bao said, confirming the Agents worries. Leo hurried past to get Risumon behind more cover. "We don't have enough power in the E-MediPack to get her back to full health, or support four major injuries if the rest of our digimon get wiped out..."

"P-Please, I just need to borrow a little bit, t-to make her stable..." Leo begged, staring at Ziva pleadingly. She was the unofficial leader of their group, and she was usually impossible to argue with, let alone appeal to. Already, she looked ready to reject his plea, before Alphynmon interrupted.

"Ziva, Jasper... if Risumon can get me up the tower, I can try getting him out. Just let me try, I'm strong enough to hold my ground against Sastrugamon." Alphynmon exclaimed quietly. "Please, there is something I want to try."

Now it was Jasper's turn to give Ziva a pleading look. "I have faith in him. He's a stubborn old git, he won't get us in any more trouble, Ziva. You know him as well as I do."

Ziva bit her lip, in two minds over their situation. Could they be affording to take risks like this with Risumon just barely clinging to consciousness ? No, probably not; but at the same time, she could just see it now: all four of them getting inside the tower, and being sandwiched between Sastrugamon and the Resistance.

"Fine. But be damn quick about it, we don't know how many of those stupid kids are on hand, nor what condition our target is in- and remember, they want him brought back alive!"

Leo sighed with relief as he rummage through their packs for a medium-sized device that came in it's own bag, a smaller scale version of the medical machines they had back at Arch Angel. Where as a D-Drive's auto-healer function was fairly slow and took a long time to become effective, the E-MediPack could administer health instantly at various dosages. It was fairly heavy

"Use a quarter and no more than that! We have to make the energy last between the four of us." Ziva reminded him snappily as he hooked Risumon up to it. Healing waves spread over her battered body, as her wounds began to close up and repair themselves. In no time at all, she was back on her feet.

"Leo... I'm sorry... that was so stupid of me, but when I saw him diving for you, I had to get him away..." Risumon apologized, looking ashamed of herself. She could feel Martemon's eyes on her in particular, and felt as if she had let down everyone else as well as Leo.

"Don't be sorry, R-Risumon... I s-should've ran when I h-had the chance, but I w-was trying to get a good shot on him, a-and... o-oh" Leo sniffed, holding her in against his chest, "I w-won't be so stupid again... You're my s-special girl, y-you know that?"

Ruffling her ears gently, he put forth one more request; "D-Do you think you're up to one more mission, just a little bit longer...?"

Risumon bit her lip, unsure of herself after her beating at Stratosmon's hands. She doubted she was up to par for this type of work, considering their very first mission had already gone awry.

"Oh for goodness sake..." Martemon sighed, rolling her eyes, "Cheer up, emo girl! We're in a team, remember? You can't take all the action for yourself, you know. Let me and Panteramon deal with those script-kiddies and you get your ass up to that tower with our esteemed hero, alright?"

Risumon managed a small smile, as Alphynmon de-digivolved back to Yalimon. Wrapping her arms around him, she held him up, where he was humorously shorter than her, something Martemon had often teased them about.

"Right, then, we've got to get moving and put those brats in their places." Ziva voiced aloud, getting to her feet.

Hurriedly taking account of their ammunition and other supplies, Jasper and Leo set off to keep their partners covered, whilst the remaining pair and their digimon began to make their way up the street, darting from cover to cover as they went, keeping an eye out for the Resistance members.

* * *

><p>Stratosmon had crashed on the opposite side of the construction site. Smoke was rising from off of his singed and burnt body, where the strange powder had been eating away at his skin. Blotches of silver were slowly spreading over the surface of his skin, and any of the yellow markings that covered his body it touched steadily began to turn teal green, filtering out to yellow around the edges, along with his left eye, which the powder had sprayed over, was now a bright teal green, making his eyes mis-matched and oddly coloured.<p>

Skyler was kneeling beside him, breathless from his mad dash to catch up with his partner, his eyes wide in fear at what was happening to him, his partner and closest friend whom he had known for ten years of his life, was experiencing pain unlike he had ever felt, in a condition that none of the others had seen before in their lives.

"W-What's happening to him?" Skyler asked, his voice sounding strained, unable to take his eyes off of the twitching and spasming wyvern. "Wh-What did they DO to him, Seth?!"

"I... I don't know..." Seth muttered, staring down at the agonized dragon nervously. He could feel a knot forming in his gut, and the sight alone was making him feel uneasy. Nogitsumon gently nudged Stratosmon's chin.

"Stratosmon... hang in there..." she murmured encouragingly, trying to keep herself calm. It looked like some awful, flesh-eating disease had gotten ahold of him, and was trying to eat away at him... just seeing it slowly spreading made her feel ill.

"I don't think he'll die from this, whatever it was they used on him..." Seth commented, studying the wounds. Skyler had become tense and agitated from nerves beside him.

"Oh yeah? Then what DO you think, oh great and mighty leader!?" the mousy-blonde yelled, getting to his feet. Seth was taken aback by his tone, as the goggle-head grabbed ahold of his shirt, glaring into his eyes, "'We stick to the plan' you said! Look what it's cost us! How the hell do you know for sure he's not dying?!"

Skye, who had kept quiet during the whole incident, moved to pry Skyler off of her brother.

"Skyler! What the hell has gotten into you?! Seth didn't know this was going to happen, none of us did!" She was trying so hard to hold back from sounding angry, but the stress of the situation was making this near impossible. "Come on, for god's sake, he's only human! It's NOT his fault this happened, okay?!"

"Maybe if he'd called in some god-damned backup then it wouldn't be us being put through hell and back each and every time!" Skyler snarled, his fists clenched in anger. His eyes were burning with such ferocity and were so watery from pent up tears that Skye was forced to look away.

"LOOK, Skyler!" Seth growled, pulling Skyler back away from his sister, "I get it- you're upset. I get it, okay?! If it were Nogitsumon in that state, I'd be angry too! But none of us anticipated this. We were prepared for their usual guns, not this crazy electrical-powder shit! But that is no excuse to just give up on him!"

"I-I'm not giving up on him..." Skyler recoiled back, quivering in anger and grief, where Seth's words at the end had felt like a stab directly into his heart.

"Yes, you are! You're allowing yourself to believe he's really hurt. And he is, but his life isn't over!" Seth continued, his eyes fixed on those of his best friend's, "If he was dying, you'd know about it. Your D-Drive would be going nuts, right? He'd have data pouring up from him. But he's not in that state... I don't know what the hell is with this colour change bullshit but he is NOT DYING, okay?!"

Skyler sniffed and finally broke eye contact with Seth, looking down at the ground.

"He's always been by my side... I just don't want to imagine a world where he's not in it, with me..." he sighed, kneeling beside his wounded digimon partner. He placed a hand on Stratosmon's head, trying to comfort him, wishing he could ease off the pain pulsating through his partner's body.

"I know that... and I know it's unfair I have to keep putting you all through this mess each and every time... if we had time to gather all the other resistance groups, you know I'd have called them over..." Seth sighed, patting Skyler's shoulder, "But by time all of us regroup, it would be too late... they're probably monitoring their own areas, as we speak, or caring for their own sick and frail... but it takes several days worth of travel just to get from one area to the next on foot, even if you're travelling via digimon... so that's why we have to do these things ourselves when it's in our territory, okay?"

Skyler did not reply, but nodded to show he understood. He continued to stroke Stratosmon's chin, before Melmon made a quick report.

"Sorry to interrupt, but... The Agents are on the move. That squirrel and the purple lion-wolf thingy are heading towards the tower!"

This news immediately set everyone on edge. Risumon and Yalimon were visible in the distance, two blots of colour approaching fast towards the ice-encased under construction tower block.

"Damn it..." Seth hissed under his breath, "well, so much for the big fight we were going to have... but we can't risk it, not like this. Stratosmon is in no shape to defend himself, and they easily outnumber us..."

"As well as having a damn gun advantage..." Skyler muttered bitterly, as he started to digitize Stratosmon back into his D-Drive. "Ugh... is this thing short-circuiting? I-It's freaking out!"

Staring down at his D-Drive, Skyler stared anxiously at Stratosmon's stats screen, which was glitching up and freaking out, and his partner's health entering recovery mode did little to reassure him.

"We don't have time to worry about this now, but it'll be more safe inside there for him than out in the open," Seth murmured worriedly. "We're gonna have to cut a retreat for now... we'll get you to an underground access point, and then get him back to SysOpsmon, okay?"

The very idea of retreat left a bitter taste in their mouths. It was very rarely that they ever outright lost to the Agents, usually only doing hit-and-run tactics on them and picking them off with ambushing, but in this environment and with the Agents equipped with strange guns that they'd never encountered before today, the outlook was grim.

With all three humans seated on Nogitsumon's back with Melmon taking the lead to track on ahead, the Resistance vanished off down a street, heading towards the nearest Underground Access Tunnel.

* * *

><p>Risumon was beginning to lose altitude as her fatigue caught up on her. The health boost from the E-MediPack was beginning to fade, and her grip on Yalimon was weak, and whilst he was being eaten up inside with guilt at pushing her in this condition, this had been just the opportunity he and Panthermon had been waiting for all day.<p>

"Yalimon, I don't think... I can go any further..." she sighed tiredly, her body aching from exhaustion, which soon had Yalimon called out of his thoughts. "We'll fall, at this rate..."

"Just a lil further, that's all," Yalimon urged gently, eager to hurry up to the top of the frozen tower "D'You think you can throw me towards that opening on the seventh floor?"

"B-But what if you don't make it...?" she gasped, her tired eyes fluttering open, the task her wild-maned companion had asked of her shocking her awake. "This is crazy enough as it is, trying to take him on alone...! I think we should head back..."

"Don't you worry none about me, sweetheart," Yalimon grinned, giving her hand a soft squeeze, "I'll be alright. You'll see. When you drop me off, have a nice ol' rest below and I'll meet you when I'm done."

Risumon was skeptical, but was too tired to argue with him. She managed to hold out enough to get him as far as giving him a grip on the edge of one of the open floors, which had no windows installed, and had not been walled up with ice.

Yalimon saw her off, watching the squirrel's descent downwards, where she landed near some concrete pipes which had avoided been frozen solid, crawling inside to hide herself and rest until the Agents caught up. Bracing himself, he prepared to for a risky encounter with Sastrugamon, a sense of urgency washing over the normally calm and laid-back combat digimon.

Before he even had a chance to turn around, he could feel makeshift spears and polearms pressing into his back.

"Hahah! We saw you coming, Purple! You're coming with us!"

* * *

><p>"Who's this fiend you've brought in, lads?!"<p>

Yalimon had been brought up several more flights of stairs until he was unceremoniously shoved into the main floor, which lacked a proper roof, but had an arching dome of ice above them that had been quickly installed by Sastrugamon to act as a make-shift cover that allowed him to fit inside the building, where the lower floors were too narrow for him to fit.

"Is that anyway to treat an old friend, Sassy?" Yalimon grinned, rubbing his arms warm from the freezing room.

Sastrugamon was taken aback by his visitor, and held off from otherwise chewing Yalimon out.

"You... you look awfully familiar..." the great white bird voiced aloud, studying Yalimon carefully. This strange digimon held a familiar, digital world-like vibe, but also the scent of humans on him... and something more. Something he couldn't quite place.

"I should do. We've met before, in the digital world," Yalimon commented in a casual, off-hand manner. "Only things are different now."

It dawned on Sastrugamon just who was standing before him, and his eyes widened with surprise, his feathers ruffling up.

"You! B-But... they said you were dead!" he gasped, stepping in a bit closer, lowering his head to study his esteemed guest further. "How could you possibly be alive?! And why are my men telling me you arrived with people from Arch Angel, and that you wiped some of my forces out?!"

Yalimon bowed his head apologetically.  
>"I'm sorry fer those who died t' me earlier, but I wasn't in a position to go against my human's orders..." he began, before the fierce snow bird reared up and spread his wings wide.<p>

"You come to make an enemy of us, on this day?! Our darkest hour, and you turn traitor on us?! Never did I expect you, one of the most esteemed warriors in our region, to-"

Yalimon immediately cut him off, his face grim and serious.

"I had no choice, friend. You've got to b'lieve me, if I had any other options available I woulda taken 'em..." he paused, shaking his head sadly. "We all swore on the oath, we'd do what we could, for the sake of the digital world. Even if it means masquerading under the enemy's lines..."

Sastrugamon still looked irate over this development between his situation and that of a former allies.

"Excuse us. I want this conversation to be between us, and us alone," Sastrugamon announced to his crew, without a second glance. Bowing, the SnowGoburimon almost seemed to stumble over themselves to back out of the room. "Now... can you explain more?"

"There ain't much more time... the rest of the Agents'll be here soon enough. While you've got time, you should head back to yer wife-"

"M-My Lady Medusamon i-is n-not my-!" Sastrugamon spluttered, though Yalimon didn't seem to hear, and kept going.

"-and get her to a safer place... some kids, they call themselves the Resistance, your best shot at survivin' this mess is to get with them, and get underground, and let the snow thaw... they'll have a place fer you there, but I can't say the same if you let the Agents get you, and if my human orders me to fight, I'm gonna hafta do as he commands..."

Sastrugamon's face creased with frustration, and he opened his beak to argue, before Yalimon intercepted again.

"I'm sorry... but this is the best I can offer... I ain't in a position where I can do much else. If I blow my cover, we could screw out the only shot we have at fixing the problems back home... you've got the opportunity to get outta here, an' I'm givin' it to you." The small thick-furred digimon sighed, folding his arms, "...I'm sorry, really."

"I... understand. How cruel, that fate has us placed on opposite sides... but I will take it... this opportunity you've given me. I accept."

Turning to face the door, Sastrugamon crowed, summoning in the remainders of his work force. Explaining the situation, the eight survivors listened in silence as their leader filled them in. Yalimon and Sastrugamon that briefly made a plan to stage a fake 'battle' between the Mojyamon and Yalimon, to allow Sastrugamon ample time to get himself and the SnowGoburimon to safety, and relay the news to Medusamon.

"I'm sorry... but to you Mojyamon, it is impossible for me to carry you..." Sastrugamon murmured remorsefully, having had the four remaining SnowGoburimon climb onto his back. "I... must leave you here."

The four remaining Mojyamon bowed, shaking their bushy heads. "We understand. We'll die with honour, sir, for the sake of our friends!"

Yalimon nodded in sympathetic understanding, and joined over with the four of the bear-like beasts, as the group made their last farewells.

"It was an honour working with you, sir. We hope Yggdrasil smiles on you and Lady Medusamon to get the others to safety," one of the big bear-like digimon spoke, voicing the thoughts of all four, as each of them gave a hearty salute.

"I've never known more braver, honest Mojyamon as you. You four have been by my side since we entered this infernal place... You'll be remembered," Sastrugamon murmured back, bowing back to them. The SnowGoburimon on his back were glassy-eyed at the finality of leaving the Mojyamon to their fates with the Agents. "For our future!"

The four Mojyamon returned the wish, in chorus: "For our future!"

Sastrugamon turned and spread his wings, his four passengers holding tight as he blasted the ice dome above them apart into a glittering cascade of ice shards and took off, flying off in the direction of Medusamon's makeshift hold-out.

Yalimon and the Mojyamon headed down to the bottom floor to put their staged fight in action, all the whilst Yalimon had a feeling of worry growing in the pit of his stomach.

He was playing a dangerous game, here.

* * *

><p>The four Agents arrived just in time to witness Yalimon getting beaten down by four puffed up Mojyamon near the door-way, Risumon watching helplessly from the sidelines.<br>"L-Leo! E-Everyone!" She cried, staggering and stumbling over herself to get to them, where she collapsed into Leo's arms.

"Shit..." Jasper cursed, sucking in breath as his face flared in anger. "Bao! Can you help him?"

"On it. Martemon? You're up!" Bao called, as Martemon rushed past, unravelling the chain of beads wound around her tail, holding one end in her mouth.

"Bead Whipping!" the giant pine marten champion yowled, as she skillfully struck each Mojyamon with lightning speed and frightening precision, her lashes moving so fast that the whirr of the flailing bead whip was impossible to follow, too fast for the human eye.

The beads burst and crackled loudly like gunshots, beating each Mojyamon violently, until one by one, they burst apart in crimson clouds of data, which she hurriedly loaded into herself.

"Free power doesn't come cheap..." she breathed, standing over Yalimon after it was all over. She nudged him with her large paw when he failed to acknowledge her. "Well... he seems okay, no real harm done, darlings."

The group had almost forgotten about Sastugamon in the rush to save Yalimon, but Ziva had not. Scanning the skies, she caught sight of him flying for freedom, four SnowGoburimon piled onto his back.

"Dammit!" Ziva spat angrily, staring up darkly into the sky at Sastrugamon's retreating form, "The target is getting away! I KNEW letting that furball go in alone was a terrible idea!"

Jasper rushed to Yalimon's side, shooting Ziva a stung look, and helped his partner up, dusting him off and giving him an affectionate hug. "You okay, buddy? Nevermind, we'll get him next time, eh?"

"Yeah... I guess so..."

Had Yalimon's eyes not been almost permanently obscured by his thick mane, then the others may have caught the sad, pained look in his eyes from the sacrifice made by the four Mojyamon, and that despite his efforts to aid Sastrugamon, the hunt was still on, having only been prolonged temporarily.

"Right, then." Bao murmured, after everyone had taken a moment to get their minds back on work, "We follow the target back to his nest, and finish what we came out here to do."

* * *

><p>"What... happened here?"<p>

The Resistance felt like they had just walked into the end of the world. Vehicles lay smashed into nearly unrecognizable shapes, street lamps, traffic lights and telephone poles were either bent out of shape, or smashed in two. The empty stores lining the streets were smashed, and a few had even been utterly smashed in, as if something big had ripped the front of the buildings off.

There were thankfully no people in the destroyed buildings they had passed, but each of the Resistance group, both human and digimon alike, shuddered to think what might have happened to any of the people that may have been inside, had they not escaped whatever did this...

Skye chanced to repeat herself, anything just to break the awful silence hanging over the entire street, which was desolate, like a ghost town.

"What could even do something like this...?"

"I... I don't know... but I really don't want to take any chances and find out..." Seth murmured. Skyler was still sore over earlier, and had not spoken to anyone, but now, he was choosing to walk that bit closer to the others.

"Where are Neon and Sayo...?" Skye asked, nervously. She wanted to know where their back-up was, in the event that whatever had caused this mess came back, and the answer that Seth gave was not one that pleased her.

"They... I got a message just now saying Amy sent them a distress signal..." Seth said. "They've gone to rescue her and her friend... they tried to take Medusamon on alone, and..."

Once the realization the Nogitsumon and Melmon were the last digimon left to get them through this nightmare dawned on them, they could finally hear the shuddering noise of heavy footsteps in the distance of something huge scouring the land for prey...

The infected Ikkakumon was not far from their position at all, and it would only be a matter of time before it picked up on their presence and came after them.

* * *

><p>"Lady Medusamon! Lord Sastrugamon has returned!"<p>

Medusamon immediately sat up from her resting place. She had been lounging across a fancy, velveteen couch in the middle of a carpet and sofa store on the top floor of the mall, around a furniture and home decor section of building.

The remaining troops that had been resting up around her also stood to attention as the SnowAgumon hurried to escort her out to him.

At the southern entrance to the mall, Sastrugamon had just let the four shaking, sobbing SnowGoburimon off his back, encouraging them to join their friends and get rest, looking visibly shaken himself, having heard the awful cracks from Martemon's bead whip end the lives of their Mojyamon comrades.

"Sastrugamon!" Medusamon cried, rushing over and flinging her arms around him. "I was so, so worried about you!"

"Only four survived..." he murmured sadly, lowering his head, resting it over her shoulder, "there was little we could do... we escaped thanks to none other than Alphynmon, though in his younger form, and under the control of... them..."

"Please, Sastrugamon... come through here with me and rest..." Signalling to Frigimon, her faithful lady-in-waiting smashed open the doors to a store selling beds and mattresses. Selecting out a suitable king-size bed, the mattress was removed and placed on the floor for Sastrugamon to settle on. "Now, start from the beginning, my love..."

But before Sastrugamon could recount to her what had happened, a second SnowAgumon arrived, panting and panic-stricken.

"What is it? What's wrong?" the gorgon digimon snapped, "can't you see I'm attending to my-"

"My Lady, this really can't wait! One of the prisoners has escaped!"

"I... what?" Medusamon gasped incredulously, staring in disbelief, as she reared herself up.

"I-It's true, my Lady! We've searched the prisoner's room, and the rabbit- Manimon- has vanished!"


	10. Medusamon and Sastrugamon

Ep 10. Medusamon and Sastrugamon

**Trigger Warning - for (implied) Self-Harm. Please read with caution, and be aware that you read at your own risk. **

* * *

><p>"I wonder what happened to the Resistance?"<p>

It was the first thing spoken after an uncomfortably long silence as all four Agents trekked through the snow, following Sastrugamon's icon on their D-Drives, and unlike the weaker trackers used on other D-Drives (like those of Amy and Joey's), anything they decided to track would never vanish off the radar, no matter how much distance was put between them and their elusive target. They could easily follow Sastrugamon to the ends of the earth if they had to.

Back to the topic of conversation however, Bao was the first to voice a reply to the question Jasper had put forward.

"Probably off, licking their wounds. With the new technology Hideki and Brian have been making lately, they'll likely think twice before trying to cause trouble," Bao mused aloud, pausing to adjust his hold over the bags. He cast a glance over at Leo, who wasn't himself without Risumon by his side.

Leo remained lost in thought and disconnected from the group's chatter, too worried and anxious over Risumon's health that he could care less about trying to make an effort to be more social. Bao caught him checking his D-Drive for what felt like the fiftieth time since they had saved Yalimon from the Mojyamon, and patted his shoulder reassuringly.

"She'll be alright. These things happen, but she'll get better..." Bao murmured softly to Leo, trying to reassure his down-trodden colleague, "It's all part of the job, unfortunately... but you can believe me when I say she'll get better. So chin up, alright?"

"Yes, so start paying attention and focus on tracking that damn bird," Ziva snapped icily ahead of the group. She was sick of Leo's moping about, and wasn't going to sugar coat or gloss over the frustration she felt over it, "That's if you value keeping your job, of course."

Leo looked up, looking taken aback by the harsh threat put forth by Ziva, Bao's surprise matching his own. Jasper bit his lip nervously, since whilst Ziva was famous for being the one best known to get results from her work, she was not flexible in allowing things like mistakes or anything that could tarnish their reputation as Agents. And that made her rather disliked by rookie Agents.

"Ziva... everyone makes mistakes..." Jasper started, addressing her issue in a loud 'stage whisper', "Will you lighten up? This is his first mission, and hell, it's the first time any of us have been put on a... what would you say... class 5 threat level job?"

"And that's the exact point. He nearly got himself killed, let alone his stupid digimon, because he made a mistake on a class 5 threat mission," Ziva snapped back, injecting her logic behind her frustration into the argument, "We don't have the luxury of making mistakes. I trust you remember what a class 5 threat is?"

"You don't need to lecture me, Ziva. I know what it is," Jasper sighed in exasperation, rolling his eyes as he recited what the level meant in a tone that showed he'd very much had this learned off by heart, "Class 5, Danger to Public Safety; area-wide to city-wide threat level; possibility of serious casualties or incidents of mass death; drastic change to the quality of life. I know."

"Danger to public safety, possibility of serious casualties or incidents of mass death. And that IDIOT'S digimon gets herself wiped out before we've even initiated contact with the enemy! Same with Yalimon!" The infuriated young woman snapped back, the textbook-recital tone Jasper had used not helping her anger any.

"Then you shouldn't have authorized Yalimon to go up there," Jasper sighed, folding his arms. There was a thin smile playing on his lips where he could see Ziva quivering with rage on the point of exploding. He'd got her, there. "If you were so set on following procedure then you wouldn't have allowed him to act outside the rules, right? Face it, Ziva, you're not above making mistakes or breaking rules if following them gets you nowhere. There will be plenty of opportunities for us to capture the bird, so cut Leo and Risumon some slack, okay?"

As Ziva stormed off ahead with a wounded look on her face at having been argued down, Jasper pulled back, grinning like a cheshire cat as Bao and Leo caught up with him. Stepping between the pair, he flung his arms around their shoulders like everything was going fine, and this was another normal day and they'd soon be traipsing off to the pub to get drunk.

"There, there, lads. Leo, mate, your job is safe, if you still want to stick with this. Ziva won't admit it, but she just worries, is all. Not just about her reputation, but the people of the city, and you, too." He laughed, ruffling Leo's hair affectionately.

Leo sniffed, looking down at the snowy ground tearfully, "she called us stupid..."

"Don't take it to heart, mate. She calls me stupid all the time... even when we're gettin' busy, hehehe..." Jasper grinned, lapsing off into a fun memory of the previous week when she'd pretended not to like what they'd been getting up to in the backseat of his car.

"JASPER!" Ziva screamed, tossing a snowball at him, which hit him square in the face.

"Nothing misses your ears, does it, darlin'?" Jasper called out to her in a sing-song voice as he wiped snow from himself, the cheshire cat grin back on his face, "especially when it concerns our 'special missions' having-"

Another snowball to the face cut him off from finishing his sentence, but at least Leo and Bao had cheered up, with the pair trying to muffle their laughter behind their hands.

* * *

><p>There was nothing to laugh about between Yalimon and Panthermon, however. The purple, woolly-haired digimon had been filling his panther companion in on what had taken place up in the tower, making sure the others hadn't heard... especially Minkmon, who had been hanging around more now that her main source of entertainment and debating was incapacitated and recovering in Leo's D-Drive. All three active digimon had de-digivolved to save energy for future fighting.<p>

"This puts us in a terrible position," Panthermon sighed, shaking her head in dismay, "Torn between our duties to both our humans, and the Digital World..."

"Tell me about it, Panthy," Yalimon groaned, running his claws through his mane in frustration, "Caught between a rock and a hard place indeed... the sooner this mess is sorted, the better. What do we do, if the Resistance doesn't get to him first?"

"We'll have no choice but to kill him..." Panthermon replied, only further cementing the fact that they were stuck in a position where they would be stuck with killing a former ally on their conscience.

"I can already fathom a guess as to why he's here in the first place... Ikkakumon." Yalimon voiced aloud, folding his arms across his chest, "Last we heard, didn't they send news that Ikkakumon had been laying waste to the snow-covered lands?"

"That's right... so then, for them to have come through... Ikkakumon must be here, too!" The sudden realization that dawned on Panthermon left her feeling sick, "S-So... at any point, anywhere in the city, he could be here, waiting for us!"

"Who is waiting for us, darlings?"

Panthermon jumped so hard with fright that she was left with her back arched defensively, every hair on her velvety body standing on end, as Minkmon approached from behind.

"Were you listening in on us, Mink?" Yalimon asked, his muscles tense from nerves. He dreaded to think what would happen if Minkmon knew, and blabbed to Bao, because it would inevitably reach Jasper and Ziva's ears, and then...

"Please, darling, I'm not one for eavesdropping. I have more class than that!" Minkmon insisted, waving her paw dismissively, "But I don't like people keeping secrets from me, nor do I enjoy being left out of the loop. Something is up with you two, and I want the full details, darlings."

Yalimon's thick mane meant that Minkmon would not be able to see him avoiding her stare, and figure out he was withholding information from her.

"Sastrugamon was waiting for us in the tower. He knew we were coming, so it stands to reason he'll be waiting for us again wherever it is he's flown off to, right?"

Minkmon narrowed her eyes suspiciously, looking from Yalimon to Panthermon, who simply nodded in agreement of his statement. The wool hadn't entirely been pulled over her eyes, but she wasn't going to let on that she was suspicious of them.

"Well, don't worry, love," She replied, all smiles and feminine wiles at the pair, "I'll see to it that you don't get flounced by four Mojyamon again."

Smirking in her usual bitchy way, Minkmon slunk off back to Bao. The snow was making her paws and belly cold and wet, so Bao surely wouldn't mind her drying herself off on his expensive suit, and warming herself across his shoulders. It felt good, having a doting man-servant.

"That was close," Yalimon whispered after Minkmon had left. On getting no response, he turned and noticed that his poor feline friend was walking stiffly, her back arched and tail in the air, still worked up over having been spooked by Minkmon earlier, and once again from nerves of Minkmon being suspicious over them.

"Oh boy... looks like I have to carry you again, doesn't it?" Yalimon grinned, before hoisting Panthermon up and over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "You really ought to get that jumpiness of yours seen to at some point."

He kept grinning, even after Panthermon gave his nose a bop with the end of her tail.

* * *

><p>The Resistance trio were ducked down a cramped, thin alley, much too thin for the infected Ikkakumon nearby to get down after them.<p>

"We can't stay here all day..." Skye whispered, as the three humans and the two remaining champions waited with baited breath, as the loud crashing footsteps and ragged, distorted breathing of the Ikkakumon sounded close by, as it searched for them.

"There's two of us, and one of it," Melmon added, kneeling down beside her tamer, "Can't we fight it like this?"

Seth shook his head nervously, "And risk everyone's lives? I don't think so. Just because there's two of you, and you're both champions, doesn't mean we have the advantage... remember Centimon, and all the trouble we had?"

"He can't have been too strong if that Manimon fellow and his puppy friend Laelapmon got him, somehow," Melmon replied. She would have pouted, had it been physically possible.

"I still doubt that claim of theirs..." Nogitsumon muttered darkly, "You can't just waltz up to one of these digimon and lay the smack down... they just don't die! Maybe they think they destroyed him, or maybe it wasn't the real Centimon, but it's just not possible for people like them with hardly any experience to just go in and do that!"

"Can we have this discussion another time?" Skyler snapped, wishing Stratosmon was there, more than ever, rather than stuck in a glitching-up D-Drive in recovery mode, "That thing is getting closer by the minute, and unless someone suggests something soon, it'll knock these buildings apart just trying to reach us!"

"These buildings are mostly offices and stores... they'll be empty... but I can't say the same for the apartments near here. Unless we do something fast, this thing will be hitting the residential area soon, and who knows what could happen there?" Seth cautioned, "Skyler's right... we've got to do something fast... and as much as I hate to say this, maybe getting it's attention could draw it away from the areas where we know for sure people are."

Seth, and the Two Skies, got to their feet, bracing themselves. Giving a count down from 3, they ran out, yelling and hollering at the top of their lungs, with Melmon and Nogitsumon getting in front of them to act as their shields as the loud footsteps turned to even louder, heavy-footed galloping from the clumsy, half-decayed beast.

Even though they had been expecting him, the sight of his mangled, decaying form robbed the team of their breath. The once majestic walrus-like digimon was an intimidating killing machine, now, and it was in even worse condition than they had expected.

One of it's tusks had shattered from where it had previously, unbeknownst to the Resistance, been beating itself against the force-field Kid had raised against it. Blood dripped from the gum line above the broken tusk, where it had been pressed further up into it's jaw from the pressure of the force field and one misaimed charge. More patches of wire-frame were showing from mangey, deteriorated sections of it's form and both of it's ears had been burnt away from the virus eating at it to short stubby remains barely poking through the messy, singed mane covering it's head.

The garbled roar it issued forth started the fight between itself, Melmon and Nogitsumon, whilst the teens tried desperately to fight the fear clouding over them.

* * *

><p>The rumbling and shuddering from Ikkakumon's heavy-footed movements could be felt by the Agents, who weren't too far from the scene. Their trackers had picked up on Ikkakumon and the digimon of the Resistance not too long ago, and the loud roars could be heard, even faintly, in the distance, along with the sound of crumbling and metal get crushed and flattened.<p>

"These things are just crawling out of the woodwork lately, aren't they?" Jasper commented, as everyone began dashing towards the source of the noise and chaos.

"The Resistance have engaged it, going by the trackers," Bao commented, Minkmon practically clinging to the back of his head where his sudden break into sprinting had her nearly slide clean off of his shoulders.

"Good, hopefully that thing kills off their damn digimon and sends them running!" Ziva snapped through gritted teeth, though this had not gone unheard past Jasper.

"Lay off on the threats, Zee-zee. I know they've been little trouble-making pests, but they're just kids!" He called back, surprised by her sudden outburst. "Geez, Ziva, lay off the Amazon Warrior persona, you turn into a right diva when there's a target to take down. Besides, it's our job to protect human life, even if it's people that piss you off!"

"That's why I said I hope it sends them running instead, you idiot! It's their digimon I want dead!" Ziva yelled back. How she wished she could have stuffed a snowball down his mouth, but there was no time to entertain such thoughts when a second class 5 was busy venting it's spleen against three teens and an entire street.

As the Agent's group approached the street where the fighting was going on loud and clear, they witnessed Melmon going soaring past backwards, smashing into the side of a car and leaving an immense dent in the roof. The impact caved in the windscreen, and the tall pink song-bird's shriek meshed with the sound of broken glass.

"Leo, you're the best shot, make yourself useful and get ready to shoot a capsule at that bastard. I'll tranquilize it, and I want you damn ready to use one of the Antivirus Capsules, got it?!" Ziva barked, issuing out orders fast, as she, Jasper and Bao got ready to digivolve their partners, "Bao, get those kids out of the way, and Jasper, help me keep that Infected held in place for the capsules. We've not got many of these things on hand so we do NOT have much room for mistakes!"

"Yalimon, digivolve to...!"

"Panthermon, digivolve to...!"

"Minkmon, digivolve to...!"

The three Agent digimon's simultaneous digivolution caused such a force of light and energy that not only did the Ikkakumon halt from where it had pinned Nogitsumon down under it's hefty front legs, but it cowered back from the warmth and purity of the energy being given off from the transformations.

"Alphynmon!"

"Panteramon!"

"Martemon!"

Bao wasted no time in dashing across to pull Seth back from where he'd been trying to save his partner from being crushed, and the dark haired boy struggled and fought like a demon trying to break free from the older man's iron grip.

"Don't be a hero, you idiot!" Bao grunted, as the flailing teen's elbow connected with his gut, as Bao dragged him backwards towards the cover of a fallen bus, "Do you want to die? That thing will crush you flat if you get too close!"

"Let go of me, you bastard!" Seth snarled, still fighting to get free, "I've got to save my partner before your asshole friends open fire on them both!"

Ziva heard the yelling going on and smirked, aiming her own gun towards Ikkakumon. If the big, black vixen got in the way, it didn't matter, because it would remove at least one obstacle opposing them from play. Jasper could see the glint in his partner's eyes and stepped in quick.

"No, Ziva- we only focus on the Infected!" He hissed into her ear, gripping the gun barrell and forcing it away from aiming in a position where it could easily hit the wrong target, either accidentally or intentionally. "Prioritize, focus on the Infected digimon! Worry about the other ones later."

Ziva glared at Jasper bitterly. She'd wanted to get rid of one of the digimon of the group that was a known problem and nuisance towards Arch Angel. This would have easily racked her up a huge reward for when they returned back to headquarters, but Jasper just had to be the voice of reason and be so soft-hearted towards those damn kids, and despite her better judgement, she chose to listen to him.

"If... If it wasn't for the fact I love you, I'd have kicked your ass and taken them both down by now..." Ziva stammered, her voice low and quiet from shame, as she aimed solely for Ikkakumon now.

Alphynmon and Panteramon flanked Ikkakumon either side, preparing to move in and pin him either side and hold him in place. As Panteramon moved in to do so, however, Ikkakumon swung one of his large paws and caught her in a hard blow to the head that knocked her sliding across the frozen road, dazed. Her nervousness over fighting him had left her distracted, and she'd failed to see the beast making a move until it was too late.

"Panteramon!" Alphynmon cried, as he saw her go down, hard. "Damn it!"

Moving in close before Ikkakumon could attack him next, he dove in, sinking his sharp fangs into his foe's neck. Biting down hard, the coppery tang of blood sprayed down his mouth, staining his lips and chin. But despite his best efforts, Ikkakumon easily tossed him to one side.

With Panteramon still dazed, and straight in Ikkakumon's path, she was a sitting duck.

"You- fox girl!" Alphynmon yelled, addressing Nogitsumon, who had been trying to get out of range and get Bao to unhand Seth, "Help me pin him back! Please!"

"Why the hell should I help you?" she sneered, flaring out all four of her long tails in indignation, "You are our enemy, too. When this is over, you'll only turn on us, and kill us, like you and every other digimon on your side do."

"I can't do this on my own, and I don't want Panteramon to die...," Alphynmon appealed, as he began readying himself for another attack on Ikkakumon, "Regardless of the sides our humans are on, we as digimon have a common goal; to protect them. The enemy of my enemy is my ally. Or would you rather I stand back, and let him finish you and your human off?"

Panteramon was still disorientated and floored, struggling to get a grip on the icy ground, her flowery aroma from her Panther Incense ability distracted Ikkakumon off from attacking the other two champions, at the risk of her own life, now that it's attention was focused almost entirely on her.

Nogitsumon narrowed her eyes at the wolf-like digimon, as he moved in for another round only to once more get thrown back, even more violently than the last. She was caught indecisively with wanting to let Ikkakumon kill him, but knew that letting the infected champion get any closer towards the humans was giving it more time to make them more endangered than they already were.

Behind her, Seth had gotten free, rushing to get to Skye's side; she'd sprained her ankle after slipping on the ice trying to get to Melmon. Martemon and Bao were shielding them in the event Ikkakumon got past Alphynmon and the fallen Panteramon, with Martemon allowing Melmon to use her as a crutch for the time being.

Nogitsumon noted that Bao was dutifully seeing that Seth and Skye were safe, even if both sides were against each other.

"Nogitsumon! It's okay, just do what you have to do!" Melmon yelled, from Martemon's side, "C'mon, don't we owe them that, this time?"

The monster fox caught sight of Seth nodding his consent to her, and made up her mind, after avoiding a sideswipe aimed at her face.

"Fine... just this once, we are allies. But when this is over, so ends this temporary alliance, got that?" She growled, reluctantly accepting the strange turn of events for the sake of stopping their terrifying foe.

Both champion digimon of the opposing elements of light and dark drew in close, either side of the roaring monster, and leapt for his throat. Digging their teeth in as hard as they could, and pressing all their weight against him to hold him still, they pressed on with their assault.

Martemon, currently acting as a medical stretcher, took the opportunity to slink in underneath Panteramon's body and get her out of the way, leaving a clear view for the snipers to get their shots in.

The tranq went in fine, but the moment Leo fired off the Antivirus Capsule from his own specially-made gun, all hell broke loose. The capsule burst apart, smothering Ikkakumon's chest and half of it's face with the powder contained inside. The dark grey it's fur had become from the infection, turned white everywhere the powder had hit, looking healthy and normal. Whatever skin remained seemed to sparkle from the powdery coating, and whilst it wouldn't fix the damage done mentally, it seemed to be cutting back on the infection.

But despite this attempt, the agony the burning sensation the powder left against it's body drove it into an even worse temper. In the loudest scream anyone had ever heard, which cracked even the hardest ice covering the road, and shattered most of the windows in the surrounding area, the still mostly-infected Ikkakumon shook both digimon clamped to his neck off, and fired off several harpoon torpedos at random.

All five champion digimon dove for their respective partner's sides as the sharp horn-harpoons rained down from the sky over them, bits of building raining down over their heads as they braced themselves against the sharp bombardment from the sky.

* * *

><p>Silence reigned over the wrecked street. Buildings that had been struck were badly damaged, some having even collapsed from multiple strikes from the rain of harpoons. Smoke and dust was still swirling around the scene, with mounds of snow, rubble and other debris from the infected Ikkakumon's attack piled about the ruined street. Though the Ikkakumon had long since fled, driven further mad from the intense pain caused by Leo's shot, a tense, uneasy feeling of dread was heavy in the air.<p>

Seth groaned, coughing hard, where his lungs felt full of powdered, obliterated brick, concrete and smoke. Fighting off the throbbing, aching pain in his legs and head, he dug himself out of the snow pile. He'd been fortunate that Nogitsumon had been on hand to take the brunt of the attack-

Nogitsumon!

It all came flooding back to him, bringing with it a wave of anxiety and fear over what fate had befallen his digimon partner, his best friend since childhood. He remembered it, now that he was conscious; the rain of horns drilling down onto them. She had stood over he and Skyler, and her scream of agony had been the last thing he'd heard.

Digging around, he began heaving debris aside, hunting through the pile of wreckage for her. Skyler had come to, just on the other side of the pile. Rubbing his head, he also succumb to a coughing fit, standing unsteadily on his feet. Sliding down the dusty, slushy snow pile on his butt, he rejoined with Seth. He had a faint cut down his cheek, which had since stopped bleeding. Just how long had they been out for?

"Ugh... thank god I had time to pull these over my eyes..." the mousy blonde muttered, indicating his goggles, "when I came to, there was a shard of glass over the lense... where are the others?"

"I don't know... I'm trying to find Cadmemon..." Seth muttered. His voice sounded so weak and distant, strained from how tight his throat had become, "Skyler... find Skye, make sure she's okay..."

Skyler needed no further bidding, and began hunting around the ruined scene, looking for the other twin. The scene looked like one out of a disaster film, or something from a war zone. The emptiness and silence was eerie and unsettling.

As he sifted through piles, he caught sight of the last person he had wanted to see.

"YOU!?" Skyler yelled, his voice ringing through the silent, empty place, as he stumbled painfully forward to grab Leo's coat, "You bastard! You were the one that took a shot at Stratosmon!"

Skyler knew Leo was the best shot on the Agent's side, and considering Risumon was his partner digimon, he hadn't needed to see Leo take the shot at Stratosmon to know it had been him. The Resistance and the Agents were very familiar with each other from years of fighting.

"You got the wrong guy, there, kiddo..." Bao called hoarsely, his throat sore from inhaling the dust, "That first shot was a warning one he made... but I was the one that hit your digimon with the capsule... wasn't expecting it to work as it did.."

Skyler shoved past Leo, his fists balled up in anger, eyes blazing with hatred. He wanted to hit this man square in the jaw for what he'd done to Stratosmon, and that comment at the end had felt like a punch in the gut.

"You better fucking tell me fast how to make him better, or I'll... I'll...!"

Skyler swung a punch for Bao's face, but the older man reacted with such lightning reflex that it caught the younger of the two off guard.

"You really don't want to do that, kid," Bao stressed, holding his arm firmly in his steely grip, "For one, you don't want to get into any more trouble than you're currently in, and secondly, I grew up with martial artists for parents. Picking a fight with me won't do you any good, unless you really want your arm broken."

Skyler continued to glare bitterly up at Bao, his eyes watering from anger and frustration. Powerless to take revenge, and powerless to help Stratosmon. Bao's expression unwaveringly firm, not once taking his eyes off of the teen's, no matter how piercing and fiery the glare was.

Eventually, Skyler was forced to submit. Shaking, he wrenched his arm free, and back off, stepping down.

"For the record, the capsule was an Antivirus one, but it has a paralyzing chemical put in. I don't know why your digimon freaked out as much as it did, but..." Bao started, before Skyler flared up again.

"But what?! It nearly KILLED him! Paralyze, my ass! That capsule's got some horrid shit inside if it burns away at the flesh!" Skyler yelled, going for Bao again, only for the Agent to sidestep swiftly to the left, cleanly dodging the punch that had been aimed for his face mere moments ago.

Bao said nothing, continuing to dodge Skyler's amateurish swings, watching him stumble and stagger about after him, in tears. Finally, after exhaustion set in, Skyler fell to his knees.

"If that's all, I've got bigger business right now." Bao muttered, turning on his heel, and heading back the way he came, crossing the uneven ground and vanishing behind a large mound that had built up and half-swallowed an overturned car, Leo hurrying after him in silence.  
>The black haired Agent was so shaken and numb, he wouldn't have been able to speak right now, even if he'd wanted to.<p>

Skyler stood up, shaking with rage, and staggered after them, wiping his arm across his face, "I'm not done with you yet!"

However, he fell silent as he came around the mound, finding both Agents kneeling beside Skye. She was still unconscious, with drying blood stuck to her stickied fringe, having poured down the right side of her face. Her sprained ankle was red and swollen, too, with a bandage wrapped around it. Bao poured some water from a flask they'd salvaged from the wreckage over a strip of cloth, and cleaned her face.

"She's alive, but unconscious." Bao commented, without looking up, "You kids are lucky to be alive, taking on things you're not qualified for,"

Seth stumbled into view, carrying Cadmemon in his arms. The small fox was wiped out, and too tired to even open her eyes, lost in deep sleep. He'd followed the sound of voices after finding her, and stared down, numb with shock at his sister's unconcious form.

"S-Since when the hell did you need qualifications to fight infected digimon?" Skyler spat, managing to tear his eyes from Skye and focus back on Bao, who he found himself disliking more and more. "Besides, you kill the digimon that come through, and not all of them are bad, or infected!"

"But look what happens if they go unchecked... people get hurt." Bao argued back, still somehow able to keep his voice calm and civil, "We're paid to do this, we're trained to deal with incidents like this, and we know the risks. If one of us goes missing, we're all accounted for. How long do you think you kids can last for, if one of your own goes missing?"

"This is easy for you to say..." Seth interjected, his voice shaking, "But we rely on Digimon to stay alive. This life in the sun, the jobs you have, having access to healthcare and shit... all stuff you surface-dwellers take for granted!"

Now it was Bao's turned to be taken aback, as he was presented with the other side of the argument.

"The digimon you shoot down and kill... they have feelings, too, and have their own morals and ethics. There are good and bad digimon, just like there are good and bad people. When we take them in, and show them that there is a place for them, they realize they don't have to fight for their lives! The digimon that caused this blizzard, as far as we've seen, wanted people off the scene, so they could come through and avoid fighting..." Seth continued, cradling Cadmemon close. Now it was his turn to look Bao in the eyes, and unlike Skyler, did not break eye contact as he made sure his message got through.

"They're afraid of you. Of Arch Angel. They know there can be no compromise, where you're concerned. But with us, they're safe... and a lot of them have given us resources, shit you people take for granted, like light, electricity, safe drinking water... we would have died out without their help, because of your fucking government condemning people that can't afford to live in the sun down to the hell we're forced to call a home!"

The silence that fell over the shivering people as this all set in was almost deafening. Bao continued to tend to Skye, bandaging her bloodied, bruised head, and only spoke again when she had been seen to.

"I can tell you care about the people down there a lot. The people you want to help..." He sighed, thinking back to when he'd been younger, and seeing his brothers fed had been the only thing on his mind, his only problem in life. Seth was surprised from the genuinely sympathetic look that briefly flashed in Bao's eyes, as he stood up. "Take care of them... and her, too."

Backing off, Bao and Leo allowed Seth and Skyler to finally move in and get to Skye's side, checking her over just to be absolutely sure she was alright.

"B-Bao... let's f-find Jasper and Z-Ziva..." Leo stammered, nervously fiddling with his scarf. They hadn't had any contact from the other two Agents yet, and he was getting increasingly worried about them, to the point he'd manage to muster the energy to speak.

Both Agents vanished off back around the mound. Minkmon scurried out from just behind the teens, and added "Your pink bird is back there. She'll be round soon." before dashing after Bao.

And sure enough, Clefmon eventually stumbled around, also having de-digivolved from trying to protect Skye; Minkmon had obviously seen to her around where Clefmon couldn't see the damage that had been dealt to her tamer. But the pink bird had known deep down it wasn't good news awaiting her.

"I couldn't save Skye..." she sobbed, tears streaming down her feathered face, "t-there was just too much stuff c-coming, and then the top of the building started c-coming down, a-and we ran... b-but part of it caught me... i-it must have caught her, too..."

Seth knelt down and stroked his sister's digimon's head gently, his own eyes watering from what had happened to her. The head wound would obviously need stitches, and their mother was going to be out of her mind with worry, and likely start intervening in all their future escapades, if she didn't ban them outright.

"I'm going to contact Neon, and tell her what's happened... she and Sayo know all the routes back down... but we can't carry on like this... let's go home."

Seth picked up his D-Drive and made the most painful call he'd ever made to Neon ever. They needed to know why their back-up wasn't coming, and what was still lurking out there- the digimon that had caused this to happen, Ikkakumon.

* * *

><p>Ziva was kneeling at Jasper's side. She'd tried so hard not to show her fear, how scared she'd been of losing him, but the tears were already sliding down her icy cheeks.<p>

"Hey, now... don't cry..." Jasper coughed, looking up at her tiredly. She was bandaging a gash in his arm, where a large chunk of glass from a shattered window had fallen and embedded itself in his arm. He'd been lucky it had missed hitting the artery in his arm, but he had still lost a fair bit of blood.

Ziva bit her lip, hearing him grunt painfully as she removed another piece of broken glass and resumed bandaging the wound. He was in a lot of pain, and it was so obvious from how hard he was trying to hold back for her sake. The sight of the blood-covered snow beneath them was making her head spin with anxiety.

"H-How can you tell me... n-not to cry?" She muttered, her voice catching in her throat. "I t-thought y-you were g-going to die..."

He managed a weak laugh, grinning up at her. He was so drained, but he still managed a smile, trying his best to make her feel more at ease. If he gave in to the pain, if he showed her how much it was hurting him, it would make her even more distressed, and he refused to let that happen.

"It's gonna take more than some mutated furball to bring me down..." he sighed, trying to shift more into a seated position, but Ziva placed her hand on his chest to keep him still.

"Don't move... n-not until I'm done with your arm..." She managed to regain some degree of authority into her tone, as she began to wrap a second set of bandages over the first, which were already beginning to soak through.

On hearing the sound of footsteps crunching through the snow, Ziva hurriedly wiped her eyes dry of tears, and leant back straight. Panthermon and Yalimon, who had gone down the street to look for the others, were returning back with Bao and Leo.

Leo immediately began trembling even harder than he already was on seeing Jasper's arm, and teared up, himself. Bao stooped down to help Jasper to his feet, looking from Ziva to his redheaded friend.

"Aww, c'mon Leo... don't you cry, too!" Jasper smirked, wincing slightly as he leaned against Bao slightly for support. His head was spinning, as he looked about and remembered something, "Oh god... what about those kids?"

"They're alive. The girl is unconscious with a head injury; she'll likely need stitches. The two boys and the digimon are fine, too. They'll live. I expect they'll focus on getting her back to safety," Bao replied, before looking towards Ziva. "And... what do we, now?"

Ziva stood up, her tousled navy-blue hair covering her face. She was shaking herself, now. Whilst, in normal circumstances, she would insist they press on, rain or shine, Jasper's scrape with danger had taken away a lot of her resolve and confidence towards the mission. But inwardly, she refused to let this get in the way of work, and Jasper had seemed insistent to press on despite his injury.

"We keep going, that's what we do." She replied, gathering up the remaining supplies. "We get that god-damn bird and find and kill the Ikkakumon. The tranq and the Antivirus Capsule should set in soon, and then all we have to do then is take it back to the lab. A pure strain of that virus could very well aid a more effective antidote."

And with that, the four Agents and three remaining Digimon set off, back to square one at tracking both Sastrugamon and the Infected Ikkakumon.

* * *

><p>Sayo rarely carried Tanukimon. The raccoon dog digimon was both heavy (from having a prominent beer belly) and prone to making embarrassing remarks at the feel of Sayo's chest pressed against the back of her fuzzy head, to get a rise out of her. But after hearing the news from Seth at what had happened on their end, she wanted something to hold onto, to help her keep going.<p>

"If I hadn't been so busy this morning, I... we c-could have been there, and I c-could have helped Skye..." Sayo wept, her tears dampening her tanuki partner's ears, "I... I'm supposed to be the First Aider for the team, and... the one day I can't be there... and all of this happens..."

Neon wrapped her arms around Sayo's shoulder, rubbing her arm sadly, "Come on, babe... don't cry... Cassie'll have someone on hand to help Skye. You know Seth and Skyler, they'll be prompt about getting her home safe..."

"B-But still... I feel so bad about it... I wish I could've been out sooner, but Mrs. Yukimura's dressings needed changing, and then the dampness almost set off Yui's asthma..." Sayo sobbed, trying to dry her eyes with one hand, and hold Tanukimon with the other, "All of this cold air has been really effecting the elderly and kids..."

"If they all drank a little of my special sake brew, they'd be warmed right down to their tippy-toes," Tanukimon commented, waving her oversized sake bottle about, where she couldn't have it slung across her back as she usually did due to being held against her tamer, "Why don't you take a nice big swig of your Big Sister Tanukimon's firey sake, Sayo? That'll cheer you up!"

"No it won't!" The distraught blonde cried, shaking her head, "Tanukimon, you're so impossible sometimes! Even in a situation like this, you're trying to get me drunk!"

The irrepressible tanuki grinned, glancing up at her tamer with her half-lidded, perpetually sleepy-looking eyes, a twinkle dancing in their bright greenness.

"Remember the time I got Seth and Skyler drunk, and they started dancing shirtless on the couch? I still remember your face walking in on all the hollering and off-key singing they did, red as a tomato!"

Sayo's face was that same tomato-red colour at having been reminded of the sight, and she buried her damp face into the back of Tanukimon's head in embarrassment.

"I didn't want to think about thaaaaaat!" She squeaked in shame, the heat from her cheeks warming Tanukimon up just nicely.

"Well, judging by your reaction, you're thinking of it, alright," Tanukimon grinned, pleased at a job well done, "Which is better than worrying about them, right?"

"I-I g-guess..." Sayo mumbled, still blushing like the schoolgirl she was. Tanukimon always teased her and homed in on her crush on Seth as a great source of entertainment, much to the chagrin of herself (for her dignity) and Cadmemon (who was possessive of Seth).

Looking up at Neon, Sayo noticed that she seemed oddly quiet, not her usual peppy, optimistic self. She seemed so uncharacteristically distant that Sayo's mood almost plummeted back down again.

"Are you alright, Neon...?" Sayo asked, leaning forward a little bit to get a better look at her friend's face, where she was looking away slightly. "Is it about the others...?"

"What...?" Neon asked, before suddenly seeming to snap out of her thoughts, "No, just... well, yes, obviously, but... I've just got something else on my mind, is all..."

"Something else...?"

Neon clung to her own partner, Cheromon, a little tighter. The fluffy electrical gremlin squeaked sadly up at her, it's face full of concern over the out of character behavior Neon was displaying. But Neon knew just what was coming, and she wasn't sure she was ready. Any resolve she had earlier had been shattered on hearing the news from Seth, and what was coming was something steadily pulling her mind down into some deep, dark place.

"My past is about to catch up on me..." Neon muttered, causing Sayo to fall silent, the blonde growing concerned and confused over this odd statement.

If only she knew that this past involved Joey, one of the very people they were heading off to save, with the mall looming tall ahead of them, cold and intimidating.

* * *

><p>"Firey Brew!"<p>

Gulping in almost a litre of sake, Tanukimon puffed up her already bulging beer belly and swigged the firey beverage down, before breathing out red-hot flames, which singed and burnt at the SnowGoburimon down in the bottom of the mall, where the storage and janitorial rooms, and the captives, were being kept.

"Crackle Bug!"

Flinging her arms around two of the SnowGoburimon that had only just managed to jump out of the way of the burst of flame, the plucky fluffed up gremlin electrocuted both of them, until smoke began shooting out of their ears and mouths.

Sayo and Neon watched the defeated SnowGoburimon, which had been taken by surprise go down unconscious into a scattered heap along the floor of the corridor. Carefully, they began to step around the goblin digimon to get along to checking on the doors, until finding one which the goblin digimon group had blocked using a very obvious tactic of ramming a broom through the the gap in the door handle.

After prizing the broom out from over the handle, Neon held back, trying to prolong what was obviously going to happen. Sayo, however, wasted no time at all at wrenching the door open. As light poured in from the corridor, Amy and Joey could be seen, huddled together in the center of the room, blinking and rubbing their eyes as they tried to adjust to the bright light.

"S-Sayo...?"

"Amy!"

Immediately, Amy jumped up and rushed out, tearfully colliding with the blonde schoolgirl and crashing to the ground with her in a laughing, sobbing mess of gratitude, hugging into her tightly. Sayo was so relieved to have been able to help at least two of the people they'd set out to assist today that she clung back just as hard, before both girls fell into a fit of giggles at Amy's overreaction to being rescued.

Joey smiled as he watched this, carefully stepping past them. But as he turned to get out into the corridor proper, he bumped straight into Neon, and instantly, his smile faded, the shock of seeing 'Kaede' there having him almost backing up.

"K-Kaede? W-What... what the hell?!"

"Joey... I'm s-so sorry... I can explain everything..."

* * *

><p>"So that shit in the ice rink, making me feel like we had something special when you... you... you were in on Amy getting kidnapped the whole time, and you purposefully set that entire bullshit up to get me out of the way?! You were the one that got involved with Manimon and the Oculusmon?! You're not even Kaede, you just... you made up some fucking lie, fabricated a fake person and had me believing the entire charade?! You were working with the damned Resistance this entire time, and you treated me like a goddamn idiot!"<p>

Neon was staring down at her lap, her hands gripping her knees. Despite her pink bangs covering her face, it did little to hide the tears spilling down her face as Joey tore into her angrily.

Amy and Sayo were further down the corridor after Joey had asked them to give the pair some privacy, because he was seriously pissed off, and this was something serious he wanted to see to concerning Neon, and even from all the way down the other end of the corridor, both of the blonde girls could hear him shooting his mouth off at Neon.

Amy had never seen Joey get this worked up, ever, in all the years she had known him. He got angry, of course; all people did. But this anger was unbelievable, where Neon's betrayal and lies had been like a stab into his heart.

"I'm sorry..." came Neon's strangled sob, though it was so faint it was barely audible over Joey's infuriated, ragged breathing.

"What was that?" He spat, staring at her, "I don't think I heard that right. You're sorry? After lying to me like you were?"

"I w-wanted to tell you the truth... honestly... but I wasn't sure when..." She wept, holding the sides of her head in her hands, bent forward. Tears dripped down onto her mismatched stocking-clad knees, and she felt unbearably sick. This was an absolute nightmare situation, and she was terrified.

"You weren't sure when?! Were you going to tell me in a year, two years, ten?! Were you hoping to keep this shit going for as long as you could? What the fuck did you possibly have to gain by lying? Answer me!"

Joey moved in and grabbed her arm, pulling her to her feet to make her meet him eye to eye. Although his grip wasn't hard, she was shaking so hard, that her jacket sleeve slipped down one of her thin wrists, and he caught sight of something that turned his stomach.

"No..." He breathed, staring in disbelief. All the anger melted away, like hot air leaving a balloon, leaving him in numb, horrified surprise. He stared from her wide-eyed face, like a deer caught in the headlights, back to her wrist. Peeling her sleeve up her arm, he gently traced his finger over several faint scars lining across her wrist, and then all the way up her arm, ending at the elbow; awful reminders of the damage she'd given herself in the past.

And it finally hit him, this girl's true identity, on finding a distinctive tattoo just peeking out from under the sleeve on her upper arm, a butterfly with its wings spread wide. He knew that tattoo, and these awful marks etched across her pale skin...

"Rin...?" He whispered, unable to believe it. It was her; the girl he'd left behind. The immense guilt that hit him next was immeasurable, and he felt sickened at himself for having both lost his cool, and not recognized her, despite the faint resemblance. She had changed so much that she'd almost seemed an entirely different person.

She pulled her arm free, and hurriedly covered herself again, staring down numbly at the floor. She was supposed to be telling him the truth, now, explaining her side of the story, but she couldn't find the words. Joey moved in slightly, wanting to embrace her, and apologize for his outburst, but she took a step back, rejecting his gesture.

"I hated... hate... the person I used to be..." she whispered, her voice shaking, as she hugged her arms around herself, defensively, "weak... miserable... alone... I couldn't live that life any more, a-and... I needed to escape..."

Joey eased back, giving her more space. His own eyes were stinging with tears. He had never, ever dreamed in a million years that he'd be seeing her again, especially not like this, in these circumstances. It seemed unreal... impossible... a million in one chance. Like this couldn't be happening... but it was.

"I... was afraid, of facing things alone after what happened, when you left for Japan, to look for your grandfather... and I selfishly wished you'd stay with me... but I knew that stopping you from going would be the worst thing ever, so I let you go..." she continued, becoming more and more distraught, as she felt like she was facing the pain of the past for a second time, "I... don't even know how I would have made it through had Cheromon not found me..."

"Rin... I shouldn't have left you on your own... I should've taken you with me, from the start..." Joey responded, after an uncomfortably depressing pause. He felt horrible, especially because of his outburst, but he hadn't known that 'Kaede' was actually Rin. "After grandpa went missing, I couldn't think straight... what on earth happened? I thought everything had been dealt with before I left?"

"Well... it didn't go as we'd hoped... and I wasn't safe at home, anymore..." She muttered cryptically, before looking anxiously towards the door, "I know I have a lot of explaining to do... and there's stuff still left unsaid... but can we maybe talk about this when we're not in the middle of saving the city?"

Joey felt himself come back to earth after her reminder that this was not a very good time or place to be discussing things further. He'd gotten the truth from her, at least, but a lot of things were still bothering him, and it was clear that things weren't going to be the same between himself and the girl he had feelings for. Just as he went to approach the door to let himself out, he felt her grab his arm, and turned to see her sheepishly staring up at his face.

"Joey... from now on... can you please call me Neon?" she asked, her expression one that seemed as though she were pleading for him to comply, "I'm... not Rin, anymore... and I haven't been for some time... I'm different from that person now."

Joey's heart felt painful and heavy, from his feelings and his own inner conflict going on, having to wrestle against himself inside. As he turned, his hair obscuring his eyes some, he gave her his answer.

"...Fine. Neon it is... but Neon isn't the girl I fell in love with. Rin was. I hope you can find it in your heart not to change everything that made you, well... you, Neon... even if you hated the person you used to be... I loved her."

With that, Joey turned on his heel and strode out, head tall, wanting to leave their business back in the room. For all intents and purposes, he looked to Sayo and Amy as if the conflict had been resolved. Neon slowly trailed out after him, not standing as tall, and with a lot on her mind.

She still felt like a weak person, and the self-loathing she had tried to escape by running away from everything- her home, her past, and herself- was back, stronger than ever.

* * *

><p>Manimon was sat with Laelapmon, both pressing themselves up against the back wall of the darkened kitchen in one of the looted restaurants in the food court as far under the table as they could possibly go.<br>Laelapmon stared wide eyed as something glided past the table, with Manimon covering both his own mouth one hand, and her mouth with his other, where both had nearly involuntarily screamed out loud.

The dark, serpentine shape slithered past again, plates, dishes and cans on the worktops and shelves rattled and clashing as Medusamon sorted through things. She sounded irate, judging by the tone she was using to snap at two SnowGoburimon who were attending her, and Manimon didn't have to wait long to find out what she was so infuriated over.

"I want patrols to scour every inch of this place, and bring that damn rabbit to me the moment he's caught! I will personally see to it myself that he's eliminated!" She shrieked, sending plates and cutlery crashing to the floor in her rage, "Those people and their stupid digimon have tried my patience too long!"

"Yes, ma'am, on it right away!" The SnowGoburimon pair spluttered, hurrying out before they had to witness any more of her anger as she began smashing apart the kitchen in fury.

On hearing Sastrugamon approaching, however, she calmed herself, remembering what she'd come in here for in the first place. Sastrugamon was too big to fit into the restaurant, so he bowed and poked his head through the door, calling to her from the entryway.

"Medusamon, my lady...? May I have a word...?"

Medusamon dusted herself down, swishing her tail to clear a path through the smashed plates and saucers, as she carefully made her way back out. She felt a small lump in her throat, ashamed for having allowed herself to get so angry when he'd been so near by to her.

"I... realize that those humans may have been troublesome for you... but if we killed them, the men from Arch Angel would resolve and hunt after us with even more determination..." He began, feeling awkward himself since he did not like trying to fit himself into the equivalent of what he felt was a room the size of a wendy house to one of his size, "It could jeopardize things, or put our own side in even more danger than we are currently facing..."

Medusamon's lip quivered, where his logic made her realize, in horror, that her brashness could be her own undoing, as well as undoing all the effort everyone in their force that had helped them get this far.

"Ohh..." she sighed, slinking across to sit on a chair beside the door, "You're right... I almost made a fatal mistake, there... but what do we do now, my love?"

"We take Alphynmon's suggestion, and get in touch with the Resistance... he was adamant that they will take us in... and then, I will stop the snow storm, and the people you turned to stone can be released... no real harm done, right? A good compromise, and if Alphynmon believes in it, then I do, too," Sastrugamon nodded sincerely, truly believing that this was a plan that could work. His old friend had given him the chance to escape, and drawn attention from the snipers so that the great bird could escape without being shot at. He wanted to make sure that escape, and this entire dangerous journey, wouldn't end in vain.

Sastrugamon had informed Medusamon about his own little misadventure, and the encounter with Yalimon, Alphynmon's rookie form. She'd been thinking about it, whether she wanted to take a chance on humans, even if they were supposedly good to digimon. But he sounded so confident, and trusted in Alphynmon's suggestion, that she felt she could go through with it, too.

"Alright... if that's the case, then... we must try to get with the Resistance people immediately."

Manimon and Laelapmon both glanced at each other nervously, but relaxed a little more. Perhaps if the Resistance, whom they had no idea that at least two of the members were so close by, could help resolve this, then maybe they and their own partners wouldn't be in danger after all. It sounded like the petrified stone prisoners would be freed, too.

Manimon decided that first chance he got, he'd slip out with Laelapmon and rejoin the others to pass on the news, after they'd escape... not realizing they already had been rescued.

"Oh... now that this is decided, I thought I might try to make you something to eat, Sastrugamon..." Medusamon informed him. Her cheeks, despite the green shade of her skin, flushed a noticeable shade of pink. "You haven't eaten since we left the airport... you must be starving!"

"O-Oh, you don't have to do that, My Lady...!" Sastrugamon spluttered, not wanting to put her under any pressure or stress, but as if on cue, his stomach gave a loud gurgling rumble, which had his entire snow-white face practically glowing red. "O-Oh dear... I think p-perhaps I might have a little something or other to nibble on..."

"I have just the thing I want to make for you, my love!" Medusamon grinned, hurrying back into the kitchen. When she returned, she was holding up a cookbook with various seafood on the cover, where her beloved Sastrugamon was a fish eating bird. "I'll make you something from this!"

Sastrugamon's eyes almost popped right out of his skull on seeing the fishy imagery on the cover, and grew excited, before something dawned on him.

"A-Ah, about that, Lady Medusamon... we've never used human equipment before..." he looked around past her into the kitchen, at the row of ovens, and the various knives and labeled containers full of spices.

"Don't worry, my love, I'm sure that I'll get something prepared, for you... I refuse to let you go without, no matter how long it takes!"

Manimon inwardly groaned in despair. Now they would be waiting who knew how long until Medusamon was done likely accidentally killing her own lover from food-poisoning, and that could take anywhere from ten minutes to ten hours.

* * *

><p>An hour had already passed, and the kitchen looked as if the wintry outside had blown in to join the party going on. Flour was everywhere, coating every surface, and most of the snakes making up Medusamon's hair gave soft, barely audible little coughs from the swirling clouds of the powdery stuff.<p>

Medusamon herself had put on an apron (only because she'd seen a chef on one of the book covers wearing one) and was casually tossing anything that vaguely resembled words she could barely read, or things that looked similar to the ingredients, into a big pot resting on one of the ovens.

On hearing a loud crash, Sastrugamon called out, "I-Is everything alright in there, m-my Lady?"

"Yes!" Medusamon called back, hurriedly hiding the evidence of a broken pot that had been full of the very paprika the cookbook had asked for, by sweeping it underneath the cupboard. Turning back to the cookbook, she held it up and scrutinized the page, "Pa...chi...ka? I... oh bother... was that the pot that just broke?"

Medusamon looked around for more 'pachika' and couldn't find any, but there were several other red spicy powders, and she picked a nice, passionate red one, marked 'chili powder'.

"Hmm... not sure what this is... but it looks like the Pachika, so maybe..."

Dumping the entire pot into the nightmare fish pie she had been trying to make, with the dough not having been rolled properly and being uneven and breaking apart. The fish had not been skinned, or even gutted, and there was an insane amount of flour, and now chili, covering everything. It had supposed to have a hint of paprika added, but there was instead devil dust covering every inch.

"Cheese sauce?" Medusamon asked herself aloud, after reading the cookbook again, and scanned the shelves. There was nothing remotely mentioning cheese sauce that she could make out. "Well... I'm sure the cheese will melt into a fine sauce by itself, so..."

Out from the fridge came the smelliest cheese Manimon and Laelapmon had ever smelled in their lives, the stench emanating from it almost sending Medusamon backwards, retching. It didn't just smell strong, it smelled off, too.

"I... I'm sure everything will be fine." Medusamon tried to reassure herself, nervously, as she dumped the mouldy cheese into the pot. Placing a sheet of pastry over the top of the pie as instructed, it suddenly dawned on her that she wasn't sure how to work the oven. But after finding a kitchen blowtorch normally used for caramelizing desserts and other things, she attempted to cook the pie like this, after having fiddled about with the blowtorch in curiosity, and nearly setting the kitchen on fire.

"He'll die if he eats that!" Manimon whispered to Laelapmon, who had her paws across her face still, where the reek of the cheese was still tormenting her sensitive nose.

"I'll die first if I have to smell that cheese anymore..." she whispered back, her face becoming tinted a sickly shade of green.

"I think that's it..." Medusamon sighed, using a dishcloth to clean flour from herself. She looked down at her dish of doom apprehensively, still trying to convince herself she'd at least made a passable meal for Sastrugamon.

Slithering out, holding the plate nervously in her hands, she awaited Sastrugamon's verdict over the abomination she'd created. She had truly tried her best, and she felt anxious... looking at it realistically, she knew it wasn't good enough. She was just contemplating getting rid of it, when she caught him staring at her expectantly.

"Is everything alright, my lady?" he asked, his voice soft but full of concern. She swallowed back a lump in her throat and approached him timidly.

"I d-do not think I did a v-very good job on this p-pie..." She muttered, her face bright red with shame at the feeling of having failed both him and her own expectations. "I... I won't be upset if you don't want it, my love..."

Sastrugamon looked taken aback, as though offended by her words. He backed off to free his head from the doorway and then shook his head in dismay.

"Nonsense, my lady, pure nonsense! I would never refuse a gift from my Lady! Nay, my Queen, I am positive it is perfect, just as you are to me... I will savour and treasure it!"

Medusamon felt tears of guilt pricking behind her eyes. His tone made it very clear he was going to try it, regardless of her worries. The stress of everything that had happened today had been steadily wearing her down; the loss of most of their troops; the fear that they would not escape Ikkakumon or leave this wretched city; anxiety over wanting him to be safe. And it had all finally caught up with her.

Manimon and Laelapmon peered from the doorway nervously, watching in silent anticipation. For all the things Medusamon had done, (and they had not forgotten their petrified friends and imprisoned tamers), she seemed so small and lost and frightened that the threatening air she'd had previously had just been a shield to hide her fear.  
>They may have even felt bad for her, had they not been nervous for their own safety right now, as they were still trapped inside the restaurant.<p>

Sastrugamon ravenously swallowed the entire pie in one gulp, where he was so much bigger than it. He could taste the overpowering cheese and undercooked fish in the back of his throat, and turned his head away, hiding his face behind one wing. He felt sick and repulsed, but also upset at himself for not enjoying the... abomination that his lady had produced for him.

Medusamon hadn't needed to hear him retching and gagging to know that the horrible concoction had made him sick.

"S-Sastrugamon!" She cried, hurrying forward to get to his side, panicking over what to do. She felt horrible for making him sick, and guilty that she had not tried harder to stop him.  
>Behind her, she heard the sound of paws slapping against the smooth tiled flooring, and whipped her head back in surprise at the noise.<p>

Manimon and Laelapmon froze up in shock. They'd been caught right as they'd made the attempt to flee.

* * *

><p>Sayo led the way, with Amy by her side. Tanukimon and Cheromon were scouting ahead for any more enemies, but this section of the mall was quiet and empty, devoid of any life.<p>

Amy cast a glance over her shoulder, worriedly. Neon and Joey were walking side by side, but with a noticeable distance put between them. Both were avoiding looking at each other, with Joey's hands thrust in his pockets, and Neon hugging herself defensively as if cold. Amy hadn't heard much from their argument, but knew it was damn serious if it had caused such an awkward tension between them.

It took a lot to set Joey off, and so it was especially concerning that he'd even reacted in the way he had. Both of them looked so lost and hurt that it was hurting Amy just to see it. Sayo was doing her best to ignore it, not wanting to pry into it either.

"So... the rest of the Resistance isn't coming, then?" Amy asked Sayo quietly, to try to break the awkward silence that hung around the group like a persistent illness.

Sayo shook her head, looking down sullenly at the floor.

"No... the Agents bumped into them, and they were ambushed by an infected digimon, an Ikkakumon..." She replied, sounding so tired and worn-down from her own worries. She went on to explain what had happened, with Joey listening in behind them.

Finally, he spoke up, the sound of his voice startling the two girls ahead some from his sudden interjection into the conversation.

"Well... this brings bad news, doesn't it?" He sighed, rubbing his arms a little from the chill air surrounding them, "The Agents are no doubt after Medusamon and Sastrugamon too, and we may end up having to deal with that Ikkakumon, too..."

This was a prospect unwelcomed by everyone present. The day just continued to draw on and grow even more grim by the second. Whilst Medusamon and Sastrugamon's forces had been cut down to size, so had their own allies. Seth had also reported that all four Agents were still on the move, even if one of them had a digimon down, the human side of that group were still able to do damage themselves.

Joey also knew he would be recognized if Ziva and Jasper were there, due to having fought them not too long ago in the practise hall further below Arch Angel.

Thinking like this, it felt to he and Amy that the problems they had faced, and the lives they had been living, had been a long time ago. In the span of an entire day, faced with odds such as those they were up against, forced to face fears for the sake of survival and everyone depending on them, it felt like so much had happened.

Both had changed, Amy had become more confident in herself, but Joey had become more doubtful, and his outburst towards Neon had left him feeling like he had grown weaker. He couldn't remember the last time he had exploded the way he had done, and he was usually a lot better at keeping his emotions in check.

"You must care about her a lot." Tanukimon spoke up to him suddenly, startling him out of his deep thoughts. Neon had upped her pace to walk nearer to Sayo, and the two girls were quietly talking amongst themselves, and Joey couldn't hear, but he felt positive it was about him.

Joey wasn't able to find a reply, so Tanukimon continued.

"You must have worried about her a lot to go off on her the way you did, Specs." She started, peering up at him and smiling knowingly, "I've seen the way people can go off on their loved ones, when they were worried about them."

"I hurt her," Joey replied quietly. He was still looking at Neon, but she kept her back to him, not once looking back, "I don't know what she was thinking, to lie to me like that... but I had no right to go and upset her like that..."

"Sometimes people lie because the truth is too painful to face. Sometimes, they lie to protect themselves and other people," Tanukimon reasoned, taking a little sip from her sake bottle. "But don't let a lie destroy everything you had. She had her reasons, and I'm sure if you find it in your heart to forgive both her and yourself, you'll find she probably didn't mean to hurt you."

Joey was left to think about what the little raccoon dog digimon had said to him as the devious little alcoholic skipped off to rejoin Sayo.

Amy was the next person to fall back to check up on him. Joey immediately felt himself grow hot from shame, fearing that she may judge him badly because of what had gone on down in the basement, and that she'd had to even witness it.

"Well, if there's one thing I'll say about all this..." Amy started, giving him a gentle nudge, "You sure do have a thing for spicy and quirky girls, don't you?"

Joey's cheeks seem to find a new reason to glow hotter than the inside of a volcano at that comment. Amy grinned and poked him in the cheek playfully.

"Y-Yes, well..." He mumbled, trying to wipe steam from his glasses without his clumsy hands dropping them from where he was shaking slightly, "T-Things were always too quiet and slow... and those kinds of people brought a bit of fun to my life..."

"And I'm sure after all this is over, and you two sort your business out, you'll go back to having fun with her again. So keep your chin up, alright? Or you'll never hear the end of it from Manimon."

If it was possible for Joey's face to get any hotter or redder, they surely would have done. He'd almost forgot that they were currently tracking down Laelapmon, and his ever-noisy and over-opinionated rabbit of doom.

Sayo called them up with such urgency that both of them nearly crashed into the back of her as they hurried forward.

"Bad news... Medusamon and Sastrugamon are right beside them on the tracker..."

Amy looked from Sayo's D-Drive up to Joey. Their eyes met, and Joey, who had been anxious on hearing the news, saw an unshakeable sense of courage on her face.

"Let's be calm about this... I'm sure that they're fine. Let's... go in, and try to talk to them. Make them see that there is no reason we should have to fight, right? We've come too far to give up hope, now."

"Amy Hughes," Joey spoke, smiling for the first time since the argument before, "You truly aren't the same girl you were before today."

* * *

><p>The scene that greeted the group was not one that they had been expecting.<p>

SnowGoburimon, SnowAgumon, and a small handful of Mojyamon and Frigimon were sat solemnly outside of a store that had been broken into, a furniture store by the looks of things. Not one of them stood up to challenge them as they came into sight, until the tamers were right in front of them all.

"Stay back..." Sniffed a SnowGoburimon, standing half-heartedly in front of them, the will to fight having long since abandoned him, "I-I mean it now, or else...!"

"What's the use?" A Mojyamon called over, slumped down with his large hands resting in his lap, "Master Sastrugamon is sick, and Lady Medusamon is beside herself with worry. We've lost. There's no way in heck we're going to get out of this alive... may as well let them finish us off, nice and quick, eh?"

The absolute loss of spirit these digimon showed was almost heartbreaking, as if they had given up all hope to carry on. Sayo meekly stepped forward. Neon had originally been elected as the spokesperson, but she was too lost in grief to go through with it, so it all fell to Sayo to see to the business at hand.

"If I may... what happened here?" she asked, her and Tanukimon both taking charge here.

"Our Lord Sastrugamon is sick, and our Lady Medusamon is fast losing hope... Lord Sastrugamon had faith that a human group called the Resistance could help us..." one of the SnowAgumon exclaimed from his spot by one of the shuttered store windows.

Sayo and Neon exchanged glances, before Sayo went on to give news that none of the digimon had expected.

"We're members of the Resistance... um... if we may, we really must get inside and speak with your leaders immediately... there is no time to waste."

* * *

><p>"Amy!" Laelapmon barked, jumping across varying sizes of beds to reach her dearly missed partner.<p>

"Joey!" Manimon cried, as he tried to find his way through the maze of furniture, cursing slightly as he clumsily stubbed his toes in his rush to get to Joey.

Both digimon flew into their partners open arms, and both humans hugged their digimon tightly, relieved to see them safe and sound. Amy buried her head in Laelapmon's soft ears and breathed in the distinct Laelapmon scent that she had come to know and love, as Laelapmon affectionately attacked her face in a barrage of licks and kisses.

Manimon was wibbling and whimpering up at Joey tearfully, showing more emotion than he perhaps ever had before in his life. Joey himself had found his reunion a welcome comforting feeling, easing him through the pain he'd felt earlier. The rabbit digimon, amidst all the laughter and tears, caught sight of Neon and remembered.

"Hey... it's the girl that saved me from before, from the Oculusmon!" Manimon cried, pointing his paw at Neon in surprise. "I never thought I'd see you again, stripey."

"I never thought I'd see her again, either..." Joey murmured softly, his voice muffled by one of Manimon's ears. Neon caught on to it, however, and glanced away awkwardly.

Sayo had briefly been distracted by the reunion, and smiled, pleased that the two digimon were back safe and sound. She, along with everyone else, finally remembered just where they were, and looked across to the back of the store.

Sastrugamon lay sprawled out across several mattresses laid out in one corner of the store, blankets lining the edges and covering him, like a well-padded nest to keep him covered. Sayo thought he was looking a bit green in the face, and he seemed very poorly. Medusamon was sat at his side, with an emptied out bucket from a janitor closet, keeping watch, and mopping his brow. The bandages covering her eyes were damp and stained from her tears, where she was worried for her beloved.

"Please... I have something that will help him feel better..." Sayo explained, being cautious in her approach. Medusamon straightened up defensively regarding her with snake-like eyes behind her bandages. Sayo offered out a small tablet carefully, "I'm with the Resistance. This is specifically made medicine for sick digimon... it should help soothe him."

Medusamon gingerly reached out and took the pill from the meek blonde girl's outstretched palm, inspecting it, sniffing it in testing. "I hope that for his sake that it works..."

* * *

><p>Around about half an hour later, Sastrugamon's colouring returned to normal. His stomach settled and his feverishness had faded. Medusamon sat beside him as he righted himself, looking relieved on seeing his swift recovery.<p>

"Are you feeling better, love?" She asked, stroking his face gently. She still feel horrid for having made him sick. "I think I'll leave the cooking to the humans..."

Sastrugamon had been too out of it to take account that humans were with them, but knew straight away that they were responsible for helping see to his sickness. Straightening up some of his messed up feathers, he made himself look more presentable for their company.

"Ah... I suppose you're here to apprehend us for our crimes?"

Sayo shook her head, from where all four humans and their digimon were seated on an expensive plush sofa. "No... not exactly apprehend, but get you to a safe place. We're from the Resistance, and we figured that you might not be as evil as the Agents make you out to be. If you'll come with us, we're here to help."

"It is strange... but one of our allies, Sir Alphynmon, advised us to meet with the Resistance, before I got here. He is currently partnered with one of the Arch Angel hitmen..." Sastrugamon mused aloud, mostly to himself. This caught the attention of the four humans and their digimon especially, since it sounded important.

"Alphynmon?" Amy asked, looking confused, "Who is that? Why is it confusing that they're with Arch Angel?"

"Sir Alphynmon of the Heraldic Knights, of course. Do you remember how I said that they act as the law enforcement in the Digital World, currently?" Medusamon replied, taking on the question herself, "He is a member of that group... but we have no idea what he's doing in the hands of Arch Angel, let alone serving one of them..."

Joey had an idea, one he felt was obvious, and he put it forward.

"You also said that the knights are investigating the virus, and also Arch Angel. You've just answered your own question. I bet you anything that he's been planted in somehow as a spy." He observed, which was a theory that was readily accepted by all present, "Main question I have now, is how did he get in, let alone partnered?"

"That's a question better left for another time, I think..." Sastrugamon announced, getting to his feet. "Time is ever ticking on, and I think it would be wise to mobilize everyone and get on the move as soon as possible, before the Agents catch up with us."

At that moment, Frigimon, the one Medusamon was closest to, burst in, looking panicstricken. Not a moment after she had entered, there came a loud rumbling and distant explosion of noise and the sounds of brick and glass being destroyed apart.

"Lady Medusamon, Lord Sastrugamon... I-Ikkakumon has found us!"

* * *

><p>"Frigimon, go with the Resistance, take the others and run. Please, keep those eggs safe..." Medusamon urged, as everyone began heading towards the other end of the frozen mall, to regroup the remainder of the digimon.<p>

Tears welled in Frigimon's eyes, as she watched the gorgon digimon affectionately kiss both eggs in farewell, before passing them over. The big snowman digimon held the precious eggs carefully in her large mitten-like hands, where no harm would come to them.

"Lady Medusamon... please, let us go in your stead..." She begged, staring pleadingly at her leader's face, but Medusamon was determined.

"I failed to stop Ikkakumon before, and because of us, lost our home... many digimon died for us today... we want to take a stand, for everyone's sake. I won't fail, this time." The gorgon growled, her fists clenched in anger. They had run enough... and Ikkakumon would chase them into the very depths of the Tokyo Underworld now it had their scent. She was it's target, and no foe ever fled from an Infected. It would keep chasing until she was dead, then set off after the next target, always in bloodlust, always wanting more battles.

Sayo and Neon nodded in acceptance of Medusamon's order, though both girls seemed worried for her. The troops saluted to her sorrowfully, and as everyone made their goodbyes, the gorgon saw her forces off safe, Ikkakumon's infuriated roars and the sound of crashing growing closer every second. She braced herself to meet her fate in battle against her most hated foe... before she noticed Sastrugamon, and the two she had previously planned to execute standing by with their digimon.

"Sastrugamon! I meant for you to go with the others-" She began, before he cut her off sharply.

"I will not leave your side, my Lady..." He began, leaning forward to lightly nuzzle her cheek with the side of his beak. "I... love you, Medusamon... and that means I refuse to let you go through with this on your own."

"Sastrugamon..." She stammered, her heart fluttering in her chest, though it ached to finally hear the sentiment when doom was fast approaching them. Joey stepped forward, from the side.

"We all got off on the wrong foot. This infected digimon will kill everyone we hold dear if we don't stop it... so we're sticking by, too. It's crazy to do it on your own, and your followers would never forgive us if anything bad happened to you." He stated, rubbing his glasses clean.

"I'm sorry this situation even unfolded... if I knew how much trouble this would cause everyone, I..." She started, looking aside sadly. She felt responsible, now, especially considering her haste at judging the humans before her, a sentiment that Joey and Amy both felt equally guilty for, too.

"It's not too late for us to make things right, though." Amy chimed in. This day had helped her find an inner strength she'd never known she'd had, and determination still burned inside her. Laelapmon stood by her faithfully, her head held high.

With an almost earth-shattering roar, Ikkakumon slid into view, his paws batting benches aside like toys, crushing the large decorated flower pots lining the seating areas under foot. It was time.

"Manimon, Laelapmon, you know what to do!" Joey yelled, as he and Amy's D-Drives shuddered and pulsated out an almost blindingly bright light.

"Manimon, digivolve to...!"

"Laelapmon, digivolve to...!"

The infected Ikkakumon emitted a blood-curdling scream as the light from the D-Drives filled the surrounding area, penetrating every nook and cranny, forcing away all the shadows. Ikkakumon's flesh burned and sparked as the light hit against it, forcing it back, as the two rookies underwent their transformation.

Manimon was a bit more used to the sensation, and so his transition went slightly smoother. The drills and exhaust-like extensions to his now lop-ears formed seamlessly, and the turbine that made up his new tail came whirring to life with energy.

Laelapmon's smaller frame had become far bigger, and slightly stockier. A flowing mane grew from her head, travelling down her spine and merging with her bushier, thicker tail, which was bound round the middle with a bright teal-coloured glassy band. Two ponytails hung down under her ears over a thick ruff of fur around her neck, as black belts wrapped around her forelegs, and in a final burst of light, she and Dvergamon stood side by side.

"...Dvergamon!"

"...CuSithmon!"

The four champions stood together, space withholding, an impenetrable wall against an enemy which felt no fear, no worry, only the insatiable hunger to fight... and kill. Once the Ikkakumon had finished reeling from the searing burn pains wracking it's wretched body, it wasted no time in firing off it's Harpoon Torpedos towards the defending digimon.

"Cyclone Sword!" CuSithmon yelled, as a long, white, glowing sword wrapped in flowing winds formed, holding the hilt in her mouth. Swiping expertly, she slashed blasts of air still holding the shape of her sword's ethereal blade at the oncoming storm of missiles, cleaving a hole through the barrage.

For the remaining torpedoes, Medusamon swiftly dropped back, using her Aegis of Night ability to raise shields of darkness to protect herself, and Amy and Joey, who could only barely see what was happening up ahead. "I'll stay back and cover your humans, keep him held back!"

Dvergamon heard and obeyed, rushing through now the opportunity to do so had presented itself, and the path lay open for him to advance.

"Mjolnir Megaton!"

The mighty roar of his drills drowned out all other noise as he struck Ikkakumon's chin, shattering the infected beast's remaining tusk in one strike. Before the big walrus digimon had a chance to even move, Dvergamon struck with the second drill, sending Ikkakumon sliding back, blood spraying from a drill wound to the shoulder.

"Aurora Blaze!" Sastrugamon called, as he fired his rainbow-coloured beam at his target. Ice rapidly begin to form and harden, solidifying and freezing Ikkakumon's entire front side, the coldness from the attack burning through even the thickest parts left of Ikkakumon's fur.

"Did we get him?" Dvergamon called, stepping back, but keeping his drills held forward defensively in caution.

Amy and Joey approached from behind to check on their digimon, even though neither had taken any damage. Amy seemed hopeful, but Joey remained apprehensive. But before anyone could say any more, the ice began to crack audibly, as the infected digimon fought to free it's frozen front half from it's icy prison.

The garbled, glitched-up roar that came shuddering from it's decaying lungs signified it's next wave of torpedoes, it's anger and agony ramping it up into overdrive as it fought to survive. It almost looked like a wall of missiles coming at them all, now...

Sastrugamon shielded himself with his wings, though it still caused him immense pain when they struck. Dvergamon was forced back, his drills useless at deflecting all the projectiles, which struck his blind spots. CuSithmon fought like a demon to contain the onslaught, slicing the harpoons into splintered fragments, but was unable to move to get Amy and Joey out of the way.

Amy and Joey were left to run for their lives for cover as the remaining wave of missiles had soared clean over the other three digimon, right for them. Medusamon's shields had managed to hold off most of them, before the sheer number grew too much for even her to cope with. She turned in time just to see one of the razor sharp projectiles coming down right for both of the humans...

Both humans were flung forward by something, pushed clear out of the way. There was a sharp gasp from behind, and as they turned behind, they saw what had happened.

Medusamon was barely standing, staring down in disbelief, numb with shock, at the point of the harpoon jutting through her stomach. She had been impaled by the harpoon that had very nearly taken the pair's lives. This horn was a dud, and failed to detonate... but it didn't need to. Ikkakumon knew it had already won against one of it's targets.

Amy ran forward, her legs shaking beneath her, as the gorgon digimon slumped forward, landing in her arms. Joey had removed his jacket and was hurrying to cover her and attempt to stem the bleeding from the horrific, gaping wound in their allie's stomach.

Both stared down in a numb silence, consumed with grief. Red particles, like small glowing stars, were beginning to seep through Joey's coat. They had come to know exactly what that meant.

"M-Medusamon?!" Sastrugamon yelled. He had been rooted to the spot in surprise, too shocked to move, but now he had finally found his feet, had rushed to her side. He too noticed the data particles sifting through the coat covering her. And he knew that underneath that coat, she was already beginning to disintegrate into nothing. "No... NO!"

"I'm sorry, my dearest Sastrugamon..." She sighed, her voice weak and distant. It took all she had just to speak, tiredly reaching to place her hand against his cheek. "This... seems to be as far as I can go..."

"No!" He cried, shaking his head. He refused to accept or believe this was even happening. "M-My Lady Medusamon... you don't know what you're saying... please don't leave me!"

"You two..." Now she turned to face the two teary-eyed humans, who owed her their lives. Just as they had been making peace, it had come to an end. Amy tried not to cry, but the tears had already begun flowing. "I... hope that I could redeem myself... after all this trouble... and your friends... in a few moments, they'll be free... so you'll have one less thing to worry about... If things had gone differently... I would have been happy to have you as friends..."

"Please, save your strength..." Amy whispered, stroking the gorgon digimon's face gently, trying to soothe her. Sastrugamon's vision had grown so blurry he could barely make his beloved out through his tears. Medusamon managed to sit up just enough so gently kiss the tip of his beak.

Amy and Joey could no longer feel her any more. Her tail had already faded, and the rest of her had become ghost-like and faded around the edge of her vanishing form. She managed a brave smile for them, as the remaining part of her faded away into nothing.

Sastrugamon was a broken man, completely lost without her, and now with nothing left to lose. Ikkakumon stood tall behind them, as if mocking their loss, savouring his victory as if instinctively selecting it's next target. The white bird's eyes slowly began to change from their usual bright gold to a fierce, blood red, as he allowed his grief and anger to consume him.

Joey recoiled in horror as he sensed what was coming. "Sastrugamon, no! Don't-"

But it was too late. Dvergamon and CuSithmon combined were unable to prevent him from shooting past, a hurricane in full force. His wings beat so fiercely, even CuSithmon, who could command wind, was forced back. Both digimon watched in dismay, forced to watch as Sastrugamon took on Ikkakumon by himself. This had become personal for him, and his anger and desire to destroy Ikkakumon entirely had left him throwing caution to the wind.

"Sastrugamon!" Amy yelled, she and Joey running towards the thrashing champions, as they wrestled savagely about the place, deaf and blind to everything else but each other. Dvergamon and CuSithmon blocked their paths.

"Dvergamon, stand aside!" Joey barked, staring up in Dvergamon in disbelief. How could they stand there, and stop them from getting to him?

"CuSithmon! Move!" Amy screamed, pounding her fists futilely against the big white dog's shoulder. The big dog lowered her head, nuzzling against Amy's face sadly, as the girl clung to her soft canine face, crying in despair. "Why...?"

"He is beside himself with grief... Medusamon was everything to him. This fight is personal to him, now... I'm sure he would turn on us in anger, and see it as interfering..." CuSithmon explained gently, even if neither of the human pair wanted to hear it. "You saw the look in his eyes, and how savagely he went for Ikkakumon... this is between them, now..."

A sudden roar from behind them caused them all to turn and stare in horror at the fighting pair. Sastrugamon's beak was chipped in places, and bloodied. His talons and plumage were stained red where his claws had dug into Ikkakumon in a grip tighter than death itself, and the entirety of his eyes were glowing a deep red, now. Ikkakumon's roar sounded again, as it thrashed and fired off another volley of harpoons, and before anyone knew it, the stores either side of them began to collapse, the roof starting to cave in on both champion digimon.

And there was nothing the others could do to save Sastrugamon now, as both of them vanished behind a wall of collapsed in building. With more threatening to come down around them, all four remaining digimon and humans were forced to run out of range of the collapsing building.

* * *

><p>Martemon carefully pushed part of a broken neon sign out of the way, as the Agents followed after her in silence. Sastrugamon was right before them now, his signal flickering dangerously on the radar. He was unconscious, laying to one side of the fallen Ikkakumon.<p>

"Looks like they did our job for us." Ziva commented dryly, nudging Sastrugamon's head with her foot. "Well... it's over. Digitize them both, quickly. The bird is barely hanging on to life."

Jasper's expression was one wrought was sadness. It was a depressing scene, and it upset him just to see it.

"What do you think they'll do with the bird?" He asked Ziva. She narrowed her eyes at his concerned expression, but he didn't care at this point, it had been a long day, and it had been getting to everyone, even Bao.

"What does it matter? They probably want to study him. They'll probably release him back to the digital world... they wanted him in alive, after all." She replied.

Leo finished setting up the cube-shaped device, the size of a football, which connected to his D-Drive. Issuing the command, he digitized both the fallen digimon into data, which entered through his D-Drive, and was absorbed into the cube. It was effectively a portable storage unit made for captured digimon, and unlike the Resistance's modified D-Drives which could only carry one other digimon on it at a time, this cube could contain hundreds, if not thousands, at a time.

"Right, then." Ziva announced, "Mission accomplished. Let's get them back to Arch Angel."


	11. Unfinished Business

Seth took a deep breath.

He could still hear his mother, Cassie, fighting endlessly with Skye. Ever since they'd gotten back, Cassie had been in pieces over Skye's injury, and rightfully so. They were lucky that there'd been enough people with the right medical expertise down here that could see to her types of injuries. Three days had passed since the scrape against Ikkakumon and the Agents, and Cassie had still been a nervous wreck.

Skye's head was still sore from the stitches and from the bashing she'd taken from the falling debris. Clefmon had refused to leave her side and had vigilantly kept watch over her, night and day, nary a song or giggle from the song bird as she kept guard over her injured partner.

"Mom...?" Seth called anxiously, after the arguing quietened down. It was silent in there now, and he was worried. Cadmemon, who had been silently sat in his lap, hopped down off of him and stood by the door.

His eyes darted to the door handle as he heard it click softly. With a creak, it swung open, and Seth was greeted by his stern-faced mother. Her thick, wavy-blonde hair covered her face, hiding her dark-rimmed eyes behind her fringe. She had barely slept or eaten since their return, and she hadn't spoken to Seth since then.

The only times she had spoken had been to Skye, first expressing relief on seeing her come around, but then soon falling into anger from how scared she'd been, yelling at Skye for what had happened. Any look she ever gave to Seth was an icy glare that made his blood run cold. He'd felt bad enough as it was, but this cold shoulder treatment was really getting to him, let alone the intense guilt from failing his sister.

"Mom... please, I..." he began, reaching to place his hand on her arm. He felt her tense up, before she brushed him off.

"Don't speak to me, Seth..." she muttered, her voice barely above a whisper, and sounding hoarse and shuddery. "You're in enough trouble as it is..."

"But... we had to... the city was getting buried under the snow, and the digimon were being-" he started, before she cut him off. Turning on her heel, she gripped his shoulders tightly, leaning forward so their eyes met on level. It had been years since he'd seen that burning, fiery glare in her eyes.

"I don't care any more, seth!" She screamed, shaking him hard. Fresh tears were building in her eyes; it was all too painful to see the hurt she was suffering through. "You both could have DIED! My only children... do you think it's a goddamned game?!"

Cadmemon cowered back under the seat, wrapping her tails around herself, her ears pinned back in guilt. Seth's eyes stung with tears as his mother continued to tear into him with all her pent up frustration and bitter sadness.

"Don't you think I've suffered enough, Seth?! First, to lose my job, then your wretched father leaves us with nothing... and then I lose my home... for my children to lose their place in having a good education... and then to be condemned down in this dark, filthy hellhole..." She sobbed, shaking so much that she could barely stand, "and now... my only daughter could have died... what do I care about the digimon?!"

"We... we need digimon to survive..." Seth mumbled, his voice weak and mousey. "E-Even with the f-fire digimon we have, we wouldn't have l-lasted long if the snow had continued... a-and the digimon above were frightened, and on the run... people could have died if we hadn't gone scouting..."

"People?" she spat contemptuously. The same people that had seen them convicted and shipped off down to this living hell. "What do I care about them, when my kids are off, endangering themselves!?"

"Mom..." Seth took a deep breath. Despite his own grief, he had to make her see. "...In a perfect world... we wouldn't even need a Resistance... we wouldn't need to do the things we must... so much depends on it... even without digimon, or Arch Angel, you know what else the group stands for, right?"

She swallowed hard, listening, even if she knew the answer.

He continued, "we're resisting against the government that put us all in this place to begin with... they don't realize there isn't enough to go around, down here, and that there aren't enough resources... you're barely able to run the hospital down here because there's not enough safe wards, not enough equipment... too many sick people, and not enough medicine. There's no funding for people down here, and everything that gets done is from volunteers who barely know what they're doing."

He knew he had won this argument, but pressed on to make sure it sunk in. He had to remind her of the importance that the Resistance saw to these pressing matters.

"The people down here are either too old, too young, or too sick to do anything about this... so that's why we do it. The Resistance... that's our 'job', for the community down here..." Now it was his turn, holding her by her shoulders, his tone full of urgency. "Mom... there's hardly anything left to survive on... you collapsed, last week... if we don't do what we must, things will just get worse... I know that this time, we didn't succeed in saving all the digimon... but everyone is relying on us to get things done..."

There was a moment of silence passed between mother and son, no further words spoken, the only sound being the shuddery, rough breathing from Cassie's mouth. Seth's eyes searched his mother's face, trying to read the grim expression set on her. Everyone down here was running out of the necessities, and the medical supplies were fast running thin.  
>Inwardly, she knew it rested on those of the Resistance to get things done, as much as she didn't like it... the thought of so much responsibility placed on her own children, and the other young people scattered about the place, just to survive through the dark days down in the Underworld made her stomach churn. It wasn't right.<p>

Cadmemon crawled forward from her hiding place to peer out at the scene before her, saddened at the rift that had slowly been forming between the family.

"Cassie... I'll do everything I can to make sure it never happens again," the black-furred fox spoke up, treading over carefully across the rough, uneven ground of the ruined house they called a home, to place her paw against Cassie's leg.

Cassie said nothing in response; but the look on her face was enough to show she had given in, and realized there was no point in trying to deter them. Seth absolutely hated that they had to put her through so much suffering.

"Please... just... please don't get yourselves into that sort of situation again..." she sighed, her voice weak and full of defeat, as she pulled him into a tight embrace. "I... don't think I could bear any more heartbreak in my life..."

Seth returned her hug, allowing her to bury her face into his chest. He wasn't sure he could bear it, either.

* * *

><p>Seth and Skye were not the only ones with problems that day, either.<p>

Skyler began hauling more computer parts in for SysOpmon. Stumbling, he cursed as one of the parts, which had been practically hanging over the edge of the trolley finally fell over with a loud clatter.

Despite his assigned task for the day, his mind was elsewhere. He hadn't been allowed to see Stratosmon, let alone hold his D-Drive whilst the giant lizard had been doing error-checking and repairs on it, as well as the afflicted digimon contained within.  
>Skyler had had enough, and decided the new server could wait; an update on his partner was more important, and he planned to get a look in now.<p>

"SysOpmon!" Skyler called out across the vast, empty hall. Before his eyes could adjust to the gloom, he was hurrying to shield his eyes from the bright beams of light sweeping across the near pitch-black expanse to focus on him.

"Yer late, boy!" the gargantuan digimon called, heaving himself around using the thick cables jutting out of him to turn himself around to face his guest more. "Where's the parts fer the new server?"

"F-Forget that!" Skyler stammered, holding back on his frustration, as he started crossing the room, having weave around debris from the collapsed roofing, "don't you think I've waited enough? I need to see him... let me see Stratosmon!"

"Patience, kid." SysOpmon barked sternly, indicating the hardware needed for the new server. "I've kept him stable. But until that server's up and runnin', there's little else I can do to really get in there an' fix him."

Skyler blinked up in disbelief, his fists clenched in frustration. "...fine."

"There's a good lad," SysOpmon replied, his voice growing much softer. During instructing his young charge, who would need to act as his hands, the atrophied mega made a second request.

"I don't think you ever told me much about yerself and Chasemon, and looking through Stratosmon's data, I feel like I'm missing something..." he began, watching Skyler get to work, "...so, humour an old man. Where'd you get Chasemon from? He's... interestin', I'll give yer that."

Skyler looked up from where he'd been separating the spare parts and lining them up in rows, seemingly startled by the remark. Whenever SysOpmon found something 'interesting', it usually meant something unnatural and it always meant information would be withheld.

"What do you mean by that?" Skyler spat, narrowing his eyes. He was still bitter that it had taken this long to get anywhere near to seeing his digimon again.

"Somethin' doesn't quite add up with his code, see. I was hopin' you givin' me some more background on 'im might provide me with some answers..." SysOpmon sighed in his gruff voice, clacking his claws against the concrete idly, "And I don't plan to tell yer anythin' until I gets information first, kiddo. Geez, though, first that young Laelapmon, and now our very own Chasemon..."

Skyler sighed in defeat, wringing his hands anxiously. It truly looked like he'd have to give SysOpmon what he wanted before he could get what he wanted in return.

"I don't even know if our meeting was unnatural or not, either... I don't know if there's ever a 'normal' way to meet a digimon!" Skyler snorted indignantly, before sitting cross-legged on the ground. "I guess you'll be the judge of that, and if it means anything, huh?"

"Yer darn-tootin', kiddo. So, c'mon, tell an' old man a story."

* * *

><p>It was the night they'd been waiting for all year.<p>

Young Skyler, who had been around nine or so, and his little brother, Noah, who was around seven, were huddled together around a telescope in the attic of their grandmother's home out in the sticks, a cosy little two-story house about half an hour's drive from Box Canyon in Texas.

Such a peaceful and quiet place far from the cities meant the sky was clear, and starry; perfect viewing for the star shower that was due to be happening any time now.

"Boy, won't Mom an' Dad be excited when we get photos of the shootin' stars, Noah!" Skyler announced excitedly from his stool, adjusting the telescope for the tenth time that night. "Dad said he'll blow the image up real huge and hang it up fer us when he gets time off work!"

Noah shifted a little more in his seat, munching on a cookie. Their dearly beloved granny would be watching the stars from the porch, but she'd made sure her two budding space-enthusiasts would have snacks on hand to enjoy with their photography business.

"Uh-huh!" the dark-haired younger brother nodded enthusiastically, clinging to Skyler's arm a little tighter with excitement. "Skyler, I'll get a turn on the tellyscope too, right?"

"A'course, dummy!" he replied, nudging him in the arm lightly with his elbow, grinning away. "But I wanna get a few shots in first!"

Suddenly, twinkles in the sky signified the arrival of the shooting stars, glittering white tails trailing across the night sky, and gone just as quickly as they had arrived in their entrance into the atmosphere.

"L-Look!" Noah squeaked, tugging Skyler's sleeve in excitement, his mousy-haired elder brother hurriedly getting into position and getting otherwise very trigger-happy on their father's expensive camera.

"Quick, Noah, look!"

A bright burst of light suddenly seemed to tear open across the sky, creating a rift of brilliant brightness, so strong it lit up the entire surrounding area as though it were daytime out.  
>A cry of surprise from granny downstairs caught their attention, distracting them temporarily from the unearthly spectacle going on outside, and had both of the kids tearing down from the attic to get to her side.<p>

"W-What's happening?!" Granny cried, hugging both boys close with her elderly arms as tight as she could, almost falling backwards from terror.

"I d-don't know!" Noah squeaked, burying his face into her side, fearful of the light that was gradually spreading across the house.

The light engulfed the entire structure as it continued spreading out, and the moment it had hit, all the noise given off from the bursts of static and the deafening boom of electricity were suddenly gone, all made silent in this void of brightness.  
>Granny was forced to throw herself down on top of the kids, holding them close against her protectively, bolts of lightning shooting past, leaping about randomly, in unnatural ways; the sign of no ordinary electricity.<p>

Skyler had his head down, scared witless by everything going on around him. It felt like the beginning of the end of the world, that they would all perish that night. But death never came; instead, he heard a weak, strained voice, one only he seemed to hear.

"Help me..."

He snapped his head around at the sound, looking around wildly for the source of the noise. Something, a small shape that was nearly as big as his body was violently discharged from the rift, and flung headlong into the earth below, with the impact sending out such a vast shockwave that the three figures still cowering on the porch could feel the shudder reverberate through their very bones.

Without hesitation, Skyler managed to break free from his grandmother's hold and staggered off the porch towards the crash site of the being that had fallen from a hole in the sky. He could hear Granny shrieking after him to come back, as she fought to get to her feet with Noah's help, but it was too late to stop him now.

Approaching the crater, he took in the damage; thick, black scorch marks spread out from the center, something faintly glowing from underneath mounds of dirt and rubble.  
>Sitting at the edge, he swung his legs over and then slid down, hurrying to the center. Despite the smoke and clouds of dust rising from the debris, the rubble covering the fallen being felt ice-cold to the touch, strange and surreal-looking light particles that flickered like numbers from a computer breaking up from the figure and drifting skywards like bubbles rising through water.<p>

"Skyler!" Granny yelled, appearing just at then at the crater edge, "Don't you touch that thing, come back, now!"

But the small, mousy-haired boy wasn't listening. He began to clear off the rubble, unearthing more and more of the clearly unconscious creature beneath. Granny and Noah were now at his side, and despite Granny's tension, she knew it was already too late to stop the brothers from getting the figure free.

"Thank... you..." the creature groaned softly now resting in Skyler's arms. It seemed to trust him, as it allowed itself to close it's eyes and slip off into an exhausted sleep, missing the anxious glances of Skyler's granny and younger brother. All three had little idea of what the life ahead with their new family member would come to entail.

* * *

><p>"And that's... how we got him," Skyler sighed, after finishing setting up the server. "I stayed up all night bandaging his wounds, and keeping an eye on him, before I finally fell asleep at his side... when I woke up, there was a D-Drive laying beside us. Its vibrating woke me up. But he remembered nothing before then, and he didn't even know his own name until I went through the D-Drive..."<p>

There seemed to be more Skyler had to say, but ultimately, he kept his mouth shut. Something seemed incredibly off with him, but the great lizard chose not to press him for more information. SysOpmon regarded him in silence, instead thinking over the account his young charge had given him.

"I see..." he replied quietly, watching Skyler connect their new server up to the terminals which were, by extension, connected to the great metal dragon. "What a peculiar entrance to a scene, eh? Yer right that it's unnatural. Damaged, fallin' from the sky, amnesia... no sir, none of it adds up."

"Why is that? And just what on earth is wrong with him, anyway?! What did those idiots do to him?" Skyler snapped, growing impatient.

SysOpmon shook his head, letting out a gruff-voiced sigh.

"The thing is... there's more to this problem than jus' the new weapons havin' an effect on the little feller. I mean, sure, it's... disconcertin', t'say the least, that he's had such a... strange reaction to it..." Using some smaller wires hanging off from his back, the giant lizard hooked the D-Drive up to the new server, which housed plenty of space to store digimon, as the large military screen switched on. "This, well... this is the problem. One I can't find any solution to, or any answers to the questions raised."

Rows and rows of data in foreign characters began scrolling rapidly down the screen, flickering constantly, to the point it hurt to look at.

"That's digimon alphabet, see? But even I, a digimon native to the digital world, can't read it... because it's a damn ol' mess, that's what!" SysOpmon explained, tapping the monitor gently with one of his wires. "It's a glitchy, disorganized mess... completely unreadable. I can't read any o' this data, his statistics, his memories..."

The metal wyrm began to search through Stratosmon's data, scrutinizing every bit of data he came across. Skyler watched in silence, lost in anxiety. Finally, SysOpmon seemed to find something that made him curious, and he stopped.

"Well, boy... I think I found somethin' from before he came through the portal... it's dated a few days before, actually... a memory, hidden deep in the back of his mind."

Minimizing the glitched up scrolling text window, SysOpmon opened another, allowing it to render, as it began playing some form of equally glitchy, and faded, video clip.

"This is that memory... seems he repressed it, or forgot it, after comin' through..." he muttered, leaning forward to get a better look at the screen. Skyler was standing at the console, so focused on this clip that he seemed oblivious to everything else in the room.

Chasemon had been in some kind of shrine, laying on the ground under a vast tree, the leafy boughs glistening and shimmering all over with light that seemed to gradually change colour. The thick canopy blotted out the sky, and seemed to spread far out, the absolute biggest tree Skyler had ever laid hands on.

A digimon literally resembling a knight in white armor, sporting a giant shield and lance stood over him, his eyes looking tired and sad. His vast red cape fluttered out behind him on a gentle breeze. Despite how beautiful the tree looked, the entire scene seemed sorrowful and full of mourning.

At that moment, a shadow fell over Chasemon, signifying the arrival of a second digimon. The knight looked up at the newcomer, who went unseen, as he was too far back for Chasemon to see from his angle; a position he seemed he couldn't move from.

The knight seemed to speak with the second digimon briefly, but the sound was beyond hazy, faded and unintelligible. After their brief conversation finished, the knight reached for Chasemon, and the small gargoyle seemed to black out, with the clip ending and shutting off.

Skyler was too dumbstruck to say a word, his mouth dry from nervousness.

"Well now... seems the royal knight, Gallantmon, played a part in Chasemon's life... curiouser and curiouser..." SysOpmon mused aloud, rubbing his monstrous chin with one of his wires. Skyler held up a hand for silence, the action surprising the old Mega out of his thoughts. "Huh? What's wrong, lad?"

"I... I don't want to know any more. I don't want to dig any deeper. Not without his consent..." Skyler stared up pleadingly, a look of desperation burning in his eyes, "I know it's being ignorant, but ignorance is bliss and... he was happy, not knowing. Just trying to talk about it made him sad, so... for now, can we just drop it, Syssy?"

The great dragon nodded in acceptance, and before he could get any more words in, the rest of the Resistance burst in en masse to start off the day's proceedings. SysOpmon kept his voice as low as he could, giving Skyler one last talk on the subject.

"If you change yer mind, or he consents to a bit o' diggin'... I'm here to help, kiddo."

Skyler nodded gratefully, managing a small smile, as the giant digimon ruffled his hair affectionately with one of his thinnest wires carefully.

* * *

><p>Miss Frigimon stood outside the doors leading into the vast hall where the Resistance were currently planning their week ahead. She was surrounded by a few SnowAgumon and SnowGoburimon, survivors from Medusamon and Sastrugamon's small army.<p>

"Miss Frigimon... do you think they'll help us...?" one of the SnowAgumon asked up at her quietly. The snowman digimon was trembling, hugging the precious eggs Medusamon had been planning to raise herself, that little bit tighter.

"Lord Sastrugamon is... still alive... I can just feel it..." she sighed sadly. Tears were welling in the corners of her eyes; the surviving members of that party had not yet come to terms with their losses, and were still lost in grief, and as accommodating and kind as the Resistance had been in giving them asylum, they'd had little cheer. "I... can't sleep at night, not knowing if he's alright..."

A weak sob escaped from the gentle snowman, as her tears fell and gently splashed the tops of the two eggs. The other digimon who had come with her bowed their heads miserably, leaning on each other for support, some openly weeping into their neighbour's shoulders.

The soft creak of the door opening, however, was enough to briefly snap them out of their grief. Sayo's face was barely visible from the darkness of the hall as she peered through the jar at the group, which hurriedly crowded around to speak with her. Just as all the smaller digimon piped up at once, Frigimon held up one of her large hands for silence.

Coughing quietly to clear her throat, she began explaining their reason for coming over to the hall, "We're terribly sorry to intrude during your business... but if it's not too much to ask... we have a request..."

By this point, the rest of the Resistance had stopped their chatter from within, having noticed something going on by the doors; with their interest piqued, the whole team had come over to listen to the digimon group's request.

"...We want to find out, if possible, what has become of Lord Sastrugamon... and if there is any chance he could be saved."

* * *

><p>"Thanks fer letting us in, pal." Yalimon grinned, patting one of the new Agent's digimon, Diebmon, on the shoulder.<p>

All three digimon, (Yalimon, Panthermon and Diebmon) had entered into a huge, circular room filled with all kinds of cages, storage crates and capture devices. Greg, Diebmon's agent partner, waved at them from the door before heading back outside into the corridor to do his rounds around the containment area of Arch Angel.  
>The room they had currently entered was 'Unit E-1', which, unbeknownst to the innocent Diebmon, was known as 'Death Row' by the veteran digimon of Arch Angel.<p>

"Poor wretch... to think they even allow someone like Diebmon inside... it'll break his heart if he knew where he was," Panthermon whispered to her companion, both of them walking a little further ahead, where their escort had fallen behind, distracted by virtually everything around him.

"Then it's best he doesn't know," Yalimon replied quietly, one of his gold-coloured eyes partially exposed from his wild mass of mane. "We'll have to especially make sure Minkmon doesn't... well... blab. Y'know how morbid she is, especially where 'wrecking innocence' is involved..."

Diebmon suddenly appeared from behind, having managed to will himself away from his distractions. "So, we're going to see the big guy you brought in yesterday? How exciting! Is he a friendly digimon?"

Yalimon and Panthermon stared at each other awkwardly, startled out of their mutterings, with the purple beast-like digimon feeling himself swallowing an uncomfortable lump growing in his throat.

"Ah... ah... yeah... yeah, he is, Diebmon..." He began, wringing his tail with his clawed hands worriedly. "Listen, though, pal... yer a good digimon... but wouldja mind given us a moment alone? He's... poorly."

Diebmon's face fell on hearing this news, and he stopped walking, which in turn made both of his colleagues stop to turn and face him. "Poorly? Is he... sick? Should I tell Greg to get someone from the medical ward?"

"No, see... it's a bit more than that..." Panthermon began explaining. "He, well... the 'sickness' he has isn't treatable... there really isn't medicine to mend a broken heart, see..."

"So we need some time alone to... talk to him. We want to make sure he's okay, but, ah... we're already somethin' of old friends from back in the day, so, it might not be good to bring a stranger into things," Yalimon stated, both he and Panthermon standing side by side in a way that would make it clear they wouldn't be allowing Diebmon to come any further.  
>"But if you want to help, we have a favour to ask... could you stand guard at the door, and holler if anyone that isn't Greg or another agent comes by?"<p>

Diebmon nodded quietly before giving an enthusiastic salute. "Roger that. Nobody's gonna disturb your chat on my watch! You can rely on me, Yalimon... I mean bro... I mean sir!"

Yalimon managed a small half-hearted grin and patted Diebmon's head, causing the chipper bird digimon to give a rather musical chirp of glee, hurrying off to stand at his post by the doorway. The pair were now left with the grim prospect of seeing to Sastrugamon, the giant reinforced cage holding him ahead serving as his prison.

* * *

><p>"Sastrugamon...?"<p>

Panthermon and Yalimon approached the snow bird's cage. Yalimon weakly gripped the bars, bowing his head; the cage bars were made of chrome digizoid, the strongest metal of the digital world, and even his super-strength abilities couldn't bend them.

"Sastrugamon... please speak to me..." Yalimon asked again, his ears pinned back sorrowfully. Panthermon placed a paw gently on his shoulder.

Sastrugamon was laid out on his side, his back to them. His wounds were many, and brutal looking; any movement caused him agony. Since coming in, it had been like he had submitted to his fate, so quick in his acceptance that he had lost all hope.  
>He had shunned any food and drink brought in, and was now hooked up on the equivalent of a special drip that fed data and nutrients to him. He had all but stopped speaking, too... he had become an empty shell of his former self.<p>

Just when they had been so close to escape, everything had fallen apart. The Resistance had reached them, and the remaining troops were ready to move out... but the damned Ikkakumon had chased them to the very ends of the earth, it seemed, to finish off the fight it had started. Their most relentless foe, and now...

Medusamon had been ripped away from him. And in the cruelest twist of irony, Ikkakumon would be kept alive and studied for a possible treatment, and likely once immune, released back to the digital world if he was lucky. And here he lay, dying, wishing his empty existence would just end.

"I'm sorry..." Yalimon muttered, sitting beside the cage. He couldn't tell if Sastrugamon could even hear him, but everything hurt, and he couldn't bare it. "I failed in my duty to protect you... and I failed you as yer friend..."

As weak as the bird was, Sastrugamon's voice cut through him like ice, "I have days left to live... if you care for me at all, you will end it now."

Yalimon and Panther both startled, jumping to their feet. Yalimon gripped the bars tighter, his ears now standing on end.

"No! Don't speak like that! I'll... we will get you out... we'll find a way-" Panthermon pleaded, staring in disbelief. No Digimon she'd ever known had wished to die, and she didn't want to allow it to happen, even if it was futile.

"You and I both know there is no escaping this place..." Sastrugamon sighed, his voice sounding so weak and distant. "Even if it were so... I can not live without her. Medusamon meant everything to me... I just can't live in this world, if she is not there to live with me..."

Both rookies were holding onto each other tearfully, unable to do anything to help. They could neither save him from his impending doom, or from his own misery and suffering. There was nothing they could do to put things right, and they knew it.

Sastrugamon had felt half of him die along with her when she had gone.

"Even in our ravaged lands, she was the one thing that kept me going..." Sastrugamon breathed, his voice softening, "It didn't matter what adversary came after us, we got through it, together... but I failed her... and so many died in vain, in our names... this is a fitting punishment, no? Just what an inadequate failure deserves... a pitiable end for such a pitiable leader..."

"You went above and beyond what most digimon would have done... you tried... I'm so sorry we couldn't..." Panthermon wept, Yalimon holding her tightly in his arms. She buried her face in his chest and cried, as he stroked her back, his chin resting on her head.

"I tried... and failed. My best wasn't good enough... and because of my own ineptitude, I lost the woman I loved... and the friends that had been with us since the beginning..." The ice bird responded. He laid his head back down onto the cold metal base of his cage, his weary eyes slipping closed. "Please, leave me be... if you won't grant me peace in death, then let me dream... it is the only way I can still see her, feel her, now..."

The two rookies forced themselves away from the cage in silence, the only sounds now from Panthermon's muffled sobs, and their tears dripping onto the cold tiled floor below. Neither cared to hold back, even when reaching Diebmon at the door, who let all three out of the wretched room, leaving Sastrugamon to think of things that could have been, and reminisce of happier times when he and Medusamon had not been forced on the run, or fighting for dear life.

Sastrugamon dreamed his dreams, telling Medusamon over and over just how much he loved her, until the aching pain of grief and longing in his heart grew too much. Had anyone been able to see into his cage now, they would have seen the giant bird finally spill the tears he had fought so hard to hold back on, as he cried himself into a heartbroken sleep.

* * *

><p>At some point later, two men and a single digimon entered into Unit E-1, and like Yalimon and Panthermon, they were also paying a visit to the captive bird.<p>

One man was lanky and thin, with black hair and stubble, wearing a lab coat that was undone. He had an otherwise sickening grin on his face; seeing the empty, hollow eyed stares of the digimon being held in 'death row' were ones that gave him a twisted sense of pleasure. He hid mismatched eyes behind a pair of shades he never removed, mostly to hide the glass eye he'd gained where he had lost the original to a digimon, an ugly scar covering over the same eye. His name was Hideki.

Hideki's digimon, Wingmon, was draped over his shoulders, looking as smug as ever. With a slender body that could rival even Minkmon's, two streamer-like wings sprouted from her back, with a small wing-like pair of ears standing up straight from her head, a fluffy tuft of fur sticking up between said ears. Her long, creamy white tail was draped around her partner's shoulders. The captive digimon stared enviously and bitterly at her pampered, well-groomed glossy self, as she graciously accepted a treat from her human master.

The other human male had blazing red hair and cold, calculating eyes hidden behind thick glasses. He was always burying his hands in his pockets, to prevent himself from fiddling around, his fingers stroking the edge of his D-Drive in one of those said-pockets. Unlike his grinning colleague, his poker-face hid all emotion behind a mask of ice. This was Brian.

The two men approached the cage of the sleeping Sastrugamon, opening it up and entering in, Brian cautiously allowing Hideki to go first. If Sastrugamon still had any fight left in him to strike out, at least Brian had a shield of sorts; he did not care to get hurt himself, but if Hideki was brazen enough to push his luck, it was no skin off of his back if he lost another eye.

"Utterly pathetic, no? I have my doubts if this bastard is even worthy enough to become a part of the project," Hideki mused aloud. He dealt a quick kick to Sastrugamon's chest, causing the bird to give a hideous screech in agony. The horrific noise only made him grin more. "Oh good, just making sure you're still alive. Can't have you dying until we're ready, of course."

"Get on with it," Brian snapped in a voice devoid of emotion, or mercy. "We have three days until the procedure. If this data-beast isn't ready, or dies before then, we're dealing with a set back. So refrain from kicking it anymore."

Hideki smirked and shrugged, spitting off to the side. "Wow, real happy today aren't you, Brian? You're just a big ball of sunshine and smiles, as always."

Brian ignored the remarks and checked Sastrugamon over. The snow bird made no effort to resist, or fight back on his inspection, and made no bid to move or attempt escape. The red-haired scientist seemed dissatisfied and scowled, stepping back.

"Get the medics on hand. The subject needs round the clock care; and step up its diet. It needs to be at it's peak for it to truly benefit Astralmon, or the entire project is compromised, and we start again from scratch," he instructed, retreating from the cage, and making a head for the door. "Hal will penalize us if we're forced to terminate any more test subjects for the project, so make damn well sure the bird lives."

Hideki watched Brian leave before staring back down at Sastrugamon. The injured bird remained still, staring up at him distantly, a weak look of defiance on his face.

"I have already lost everything dear to me... I am not afraid to die," he croaked up weakly, his chest still stinging from the kick, the red, bloody swelling skin showing through empty patches of feathers. He was not going to give these people any satisfaction in allowing them to scare him.

"Don't worry then, birdbrain. We'll give you something to be afraid of soon!" Hideki smirked, sneering down at the imprisoned digimon. Before Sastrugamon could even move, the dark haired man raised his foot and brought it smashing down on Sastrugamon's beak, chipping and cracking it, making the injured bird's shriek ring out over the entire containment area.

"Consider that your house-warming present, birdbrain. Welcome to Arch Angel!"

Unbeknownst to Hideki however, everything had been witnessed on camera from where the Resistance had hacked in to find out what was happening with the captive digimon.

* * *

><p>Seth and Skye were shaking harder than anyone else from witnessing that entire, horrific spectacle. Frigimon was screaming and wailing, and the rest of the digimon were numb with shock, clinging to each other in tears.<p>

"Noooooo!" Frigimon shrieked brokenly, her large hands pressed against the screen, eyes wide in horror. "Noooo! Lord Sastrugamon!"

Sayo was clinging tearfully to Seth's arm, staring fearfully at the monitor, but he didn't respond. He was on the verge of exploding from fury, Skye virtually mirroring his anger. He felt like he was going to be sick.

"That fucking bastard..." he snarled, his hands balled tightly into fists. Skye was shaking violently beside him. Her head was spinning and pounding so hard she felt as though she would pass out; Seth finally snapped out of it when he heard her beginning to retch and gag on bile.

"God dammit..." he cursed. "Sayo... get Skye back home... There's only a slim hope we can get him out alive... we have only once chance to do this, so we need to start planning as soon as possible..."

Between the sobbing digimon and sickened humans, there was little that could be done in the way of planning. Everyone was too repulsed and grief-stricken and panicky to focus on brainstorming, not when they was hanging over them, replaying in their minds.

But oddly enough, of all of those present, the one to suggest a viable plan was Tanukimon; and it was crazy enough that it might just work.

* * *

><p>"For goodness sake, Manimon!"<p>

Joey groaned in exasperation as Manimon accidentally knocked over a stack of paperwork for the third time that morning.

The irrepressible little rabbit had also successfully ruined what had been a good start to the day after having knocked Joey's coffee all over his keyboard, accidentally erased the pie chart Joey had been working on showing various sales figures for his boss whilst trying to look up questionable images on the internet, and just generally annoying the exhausted blonde via trying to build a card pyramid and taking up half of his desk space.

"Whaaaaat? It's not my fault there's a surprise inspection from the government and now everyone's panicking trying to make this dump look presentable." Manimon sighed, rolling his eyes. "If you didn't want all this stress you should've kept it tidy before!"

Manimon jumped a mile in the air when Joey smacked his hand down on the table in anger.

"It WAS tidy, that's the thing! But then you went and messed everything up! You're not even sorry for it, either!" He was so frustrated he didn't care who heard him losing his temper. "YOU'RE the reason I have so much stress, Manimon. Why can't you just bugger off for a few hours and give me some peace and quiet to sort all of this mess out?"

Manimon looked downright offended for that remark, and felt his face flare up red with anger, even if Joey was telling the truth, Manimon was too proud to admit to it. Snorting indignantly, the rabbit picked himself off and trounced off in the most dramatic and flamboyant fashion leaving only a loud "HUMPH!" in response.

Everywhere Manimon went, people and digimon were busy. Even Tatzelmon, who Manimon had secretly hoped was available for fun and mischief, was behaving herself and helping Kurumi get everything ship-shape at her desk, too. A man rushing out carrying bags nearly overflowing with trash almost crashed into Manimon and yelled an expletive in anger, causing Manimon to return the feeling with a rude hand gesture.

It was so boring and stressful around the office that the rabbit decided he'd find a nice quiet place he could nap for a few hours to kill time.

The canteen was undergoing a spit and polish so that was no good. The staff room was out of the question too, where he could see Ziva yelling her head off at Jasper and Leo to rearrange the furniture to achieve the "perfect zen" or some other crap he was certain she was being OCD over.

"Huh, Panthermon and Yalimon ain't with them," Manimon noted as he carried on down the corridor, "Can't say I blame 'em wanting to get away from that lot..."

The medical ward was full and there was no way in hell he would get any peace at the nursery, and if he slept in the containment area again they might mistake him for a captive digimon (again). The only other options available were the carpark, which always smelled of oil, the toilets, which smelled even worse, or the boiler room.

Naturally, the boiler room was the obvious pick. Due to how huge Arch Angel was, every sector needed a boiler room and a back-up generator to run all the electricals and security installed. He was fairly certain that even the back-up generators had back-ups, but that was besides the point. He didn't have to go too far to find one to hide out at, but he just hoped the janitors for this floor weren't having an impromptu spring cleaning, because Manimon really wasn't keen on crashing out in a toilet cubicle.

Cracking the door open, he peered inside. It was dark and warm inside, just the right atmosphere for the perfect nap. But at the same time, the hum from the generator would keep him awake; this was a problem fast grating on his nerves.

That's when he saw it. A door at the back of the room. This would be where the janitors went to dump off their cleaning equipment no doubt, surely. The door would be enough to block out the annoying low hum... it was perfect, almost too good to be true.

Hurriedly opening the door, he stepped through into the next room, and closed up behind him before taking in the scene before him.

On the right hand wall there was a huge fan closed off behind grating, an ominous red glow from further behind it casting a sinister light on the wall opposite, the fan blades rotation causing ever-constant shadows to cycle about endlessly. But this wasn't what caught his attention.  
>It was the wall of scribbles done up in white chalk all over the wall. Surreal, almost childlike doodles plastering every surface. He stood, fixed to the spot, his gaze travelling over each scrawled out image The mass brought to mind a brainstorm map from a scientist trying to work out equations; he couldn't understand the nature of the pictures, but they felt connected somehow.<p>

A giant tree towering over everything went across the top of the wall. Under the tree stood two... humans? It was hard to say, but the figures were wearing hooded robes.

There was some big, shaggy beast being stabbed from behind by a tall, slender figure with a dog's head for one hand and a sword for the other. There was a giant ship with wings sailing through a sea of clouds. There was a giant gorge or canyon with a colossal hand reaching out from the cracked earth. There came a tower encircled with stars and zodiac signs with a fearsome monster sat at the top.

The doodles kept going and going... he was having to walk just to see the rest, straining his eyes in the blood-red lighting.

A city skyline stretched out along the bottom of the wall. A bird in the sky was summoning a blizzard with a snake-like woman laying dead in the snow. Then, a jungle seemed to be overturning the city, trees and vines choking and covering everything in sight with a humanoid-creature covered in thorny vines sat atop a throne.  
>Then there was what seemed like a storm battering the city, buildings being knocked over by something unseen in the clouds and another in the rising waters flooding through it. The last had what looked like a huge building exploding with fire sweeping the streets, bodies littering the roads.<p>

The entire skyline had made his blood run cold. Manimon hoped there were nicer images in this creepy, confusing mess, backtracking, when he noticed the center.

There was a huge digimon, split down the middle. One half had what looked like screaming ghostly things bursting out of it, surrounded by fire and more dead bodies.  
>The other half was a giant thing that seemed like it was possibly made of... fire? With a human trapped inside. A second figure, so tiny in comparison, was aiming a bow and arrow at the beast, with the world around them looking crumbling and decayed.<p>

He finally noticed doodles that really shocked him more than anything else on the wall so far. Whilst he was willing to write off everything else as some bored artist's scribbles, creepy and horrific as they were, he saw something that was unmistakable.

There, at one side, were doodles of people. People that looked like Joey, Amy, Marina and Darren, and two more that he didn't recognize, with what looked like himself, Laelapmon, Denimon and Elfinmon beside the respective human partners, as well as two strange digimon at the mysterious human pair's sides too.

Before he could even think about fleeing running and screaming from the room like a giant wuss, he felt a large, clawed hand grab his ears and lift high off the ground into the air. Squealing and kicking and flailing his legs, he was soon silence by a second hand coming and covering his mouth.

"My, my... aren't you a nosey little fellow..."

* * *

><p>"W-Who are you? W-What the hell is up with this c-crazy room, anyway?"<p>

Those were the first words Manimon managed to splutter after mostly getting his stuff in order, after finally calming down.

He was sat before a tall, slender jester, completely covered from head to toe in his jester costume. The only skin showing at all (which was grey coloured) were his hands, feet and pointy elf-like ears. Blonde hair spilled from under his jester hat, over his mask face... and despite it only being a mask, it behaved like a second skin, the mouth moving exactly as his real one would beneath it, and two red plus-sign shaped "eyes" on the mask regarding him in an ominous silence.

Manimon was unnerved, but also mystified and slightly intrigued. He felt himself getting a tad flustered from staring, and glanced away, his cheeks reddening considerably under the fur on his cheeks.

"My name is Tarockmon, and this 'crazy' room is just the janitor's unused storage space, is all."

Manimon squirmed in his seat, his ears almost twisting around themselves frustratedly, so he ended up grabbing them and tugging them down either side his face to stop them from flapping about.

"You know that's not what I mean, blondie! What's the deal with the drawings, anyway?" He replied, casting another glance over at the wall full of 'crazy'. "Are they... yours? What do they mean, how did you know about-"

Before Manimon could launch into a tidal wave of questions, the jester hurriedly pressed a finger to the babbling rabbit's fuzzy lips, silencing him.

"If you'd allow me the chance to speak, White Rabbit, I could explain the answers to those questions."

Manimon stammered a barely audible apology, feeling his face redden again. He felt shy, and small, as though he were on the verge of something big and scary, that only this strange jester understood, and the mix of nerves and anticipation was getting to him. He allowed himself, just this once, to be picked up and sat in one of Tarockmon's arms. Had this been any other time, he would have fought and resisted every step of the way.

"You want to know what these images are?" Tarockmon asked, as the pair of them stood before the wall of images, "They're special. They're how I keep track of... important events."

Manimon blinked up at the strange, masked digimon and then flushed on noticing the jester glancing down at him in turn and hurriedly looked away once more.

"W-What does that even mean, a-anyway?" Manimon mumbled, fidgeting his paws together anxiously. "You... you're lying. These just look like drawings... nobody can see the future, I know that..."

"You think I'm lying? I foresaw Sastrugamon's blizzard last month, and not a single fool here believed me, bar my... master," Tarockmon stated, wandering further up the wall, towards the images of Manimon and his friends. "You lot seem important. You've never met me before, and I've not met you, personally, but I've dreamed of you a lot. I bet it's not everyday someone tells you they dream of you, eh?"

Manimon squeaked and puffed his cheeks out on catching that comment, and burned up when he caught the jester grinning at him impishly behind one hand.

"O-Oh stop it, you're... you're the worst!" he spluttered, folding his arms, "A-Anyway, I'm still not convinced, even if you did try to butter me up by calling me important, there..."

Tarockmon padded over and knelt down in front of Manimon, smirking cattishly. "What, you want proof? Okay... I'll give you proof. I can tell you why young Joseph is even bothering to hold down a job here, right?"

Manimon swallowed, habitually fiddling with one of his long ears. Tarockmon couldn't possibly know, Joey had only ever told people he trusted, like Amy... how could this guy even know something as personal as that?

"G-Go on, then... guess." Manimon demanded, in the meekest and most quiet way possible. If Joey had been there right now, aside from being equally nervous, he would likely joke that aliens must have invaded and performed some operation that made Manimon quiet, and for the most part, well behaved.

"Young Joseph is here because he's wondering what happened to his grandfather... am I right?"

Tarockmon didn't need to wait for a response from Manimon to know he'd hit the nail on the head. Manimon felt like his heart had gone from trying to pound it's way out of his chest with a sledgehammer to stopping dead.

"How... H-How did you... n-nobody knows..."

"I know, because I foresaw his arrival at Arch Angel," Tarockmon responded, massaging Manimon's ears soothingly. "But why I have these visions... I can't understand their importance, other than they are destined to happen and that, for some reason, all the people that have appeared have been important. So no, I wasn't trying to flatter you, sweet rabbit, I was stating fact. You seem important to the future, somehow... and that's all I can tell you."

"So... these images... you don't even understand them yourself?" Manimon asked, "How could you know Joey's name but not mine, then? Why bother to draw it all down in the first pla-"

Once more, Manimon was silenced by Tarockmon, who held Manimon up gently under his arms so they could meet eye to eye.

"I found out about Joey because I have ways of getting information without even being detected. He wouldn't even know I'm watching, even if I were right behind him. I simply haven't had time to dig up any more information on anyone else, is all."  
>The sharp-toothed grin on his masked face made Manimon gulp nervously, as he continued, "I draw what I see down to try to make sense of it all, to try to piece the puzzle together... like taking notes. Except, you know, my writing is even more childish and scribbly than my drawings. And it's so much easier to remember scenes and faces in drawings, don't you know?"<p>

"I... I still don't know if I'm convinced..." Manimon stated. Some part of him, despite the drawings and Tarockmon's knowledge of Joey's personal goal, still felt he needed more confirmation on things.

"Well, then... I can try one more time to convince you." Tarockmon sighed, ruffling the rabbit's ears affectionately. "All I'll say is, you did a damn fine job of impaling Centimon with your drills, down in the underground, hmm?"

Manimon swallowed. Without a doubt, this guy just knew. Nobody else had seen, or even been present, for that whole misadventure down in the subway. There was absolutely no other explanation for the jester being able to know all of this without being able to foresee it happening in advance.

"Then... you've been dreaming about these things for..." he started, swallowing a lump down in his throat.

"Years," the jester informed him. "Before you were even a data packet on Arch Angel's servers, I've had these dreams. I don't know why you've been drawn into this, but these events I've forseen... I am certain that you are involved. Without a doubt, you and your friends bare a huge weight to carry, for the sake of the city... perhaps, even the world."

Manimon wished he could run away. So much responsibility was being placed on him, by a digimon he barely knew and only just barely trusted, and the fate of the world was something both mind-blowingly immense, and utterly terrifying.

"The city skyline down the bottom... from what I've pieced together so far, that's the timeline for the city," Tarockmon explained, pointing over at the image spanning the entire width of the wall, "The first has Sastrugamon's blizzard striking the city, with Medusamon's inevitable death. The second... I'm fairly certain it's a jungle. The third involves raging seas and horrific winds, and the last..."

Manimon listened as Tarockmon's voice grew quieter and quieter, as they stared at the last image on the wall.

"That one is a recurring nightmare. I see it, over and over..." the jester rubbed as his temples, his head hurting somewhat from just seeing it. "Endless fire, and so many bodies... an impossible amount of death... and I can't see the cause of it, or an end to it..."

"Is... Is it really set in stone...? Can the future not be changed, or prevented?" Manimon asked, his voice wavering. It was a thought that didn't bear thinking about, and so utterly terrifying. It was so much to process, too, and he felt a panic attack coming on.

"Of course it can. That's another reason why I'm trying to dig much deeper, and find answers. Then I can try to prevent all of it from happening!" Tarockmon stated, rubbing his hands together enthusiastically. "And I am not the only one who sees this future, nor am I the only one that wishes to prevent it from happening."

"T-There's more out there that can s-see it too?!" Manimon shrieked, almost falling over himself in shock, his jaw dropping comically. "That... that makes even less sense! I demand explanation!"

At this moment, Tarockmon seemed to grow tired of the Q&A session, and pulled back one of his sleeves, pretending to check the time on a watch he wasn't wearing.

"Unfortunately, sweetness, time's run out, and I've got to get going. I'm sure one day, when I'm feeling generous, I'll fill you in on more, but for now, I think that's quite enough of that." Grinning, he tickled Manimon's chin, where the little rabbit's jaw had still 'dropped',  
>"Anyhow, try not to think too deeply on all of this, and If you ever feel like bombarding me in your utterly adorable and confused way, my little carrot cake, you're welcome to drop by anytime. Maybe next time I'll draw you like one of my french girls."<p>

"H-Huh?!" Manimon squeaked, his face almost exploding from how hot his cheeks had grown from the sudden teasing from his strange acquaintance. "D-Don't tease me so, I-I d-don't-"

"You might want to be careful leaving, also, you wouldn't want to give anyone any funny ideas, considering how much time alone we've spent together, sweetness." Tarockmon smirked, waving Manimon goodbye, before vanishing in a burst of purple smoke. "Ciao!"

Manimon was then left to burn up in embarrassment in the privacy of the hidden 'doodle room', giving the wall one last lingering glance before hurrying out to hide in shame in a place far away from the strange jester.

* * *

><p>"Jasper, for god's sake, straighten your tie!"<p>

Jasper and Leo were standing to attention, with Ziva straightening Jasper's tie up "perfect", constantly chiding he and Leo every step of the way in her paranoia to look presentable for the government officials.  
>It was the third day since the impromptu phone call had been made informing the higher-ups that the inspectors would be coming, and it was also the day that the digimon they had previously captured, Sastrugamon, would be moved from Unit E-1 to a different location deep within the bowels of Arch Angel.<p>

"Geez, why do we have to have our ties perfect when the rest of the building is a dump?" Jasper groaned, voicing his complaint loudly. Ziva had to refrain from shaking his head off.

"Because, you idiot, Arch Angel is funded by the government. If they think it's a waste of funding, we'll be out of jobs because they'll shut it all down!" Ziva snarled, rounding up on Leo next. "For god's sake, stop snivelling and straighten up, Leo!"

"Y-Yes sir... M-Ma'am...!" Leo sniffed, hurriedly correcting himself and doing his best to stand 'correctly' without looking awkward, a feat he found immensely difficult. Ziva smacked him upside the head irritably and went back to Jasper.

"How does the funding for this place even work? Don't the government know what we even do here?" Jasper mused, ignoring his female companion's further berating of wanting him to remove his ear piercings ASAP.

"Like hell if I know! I'm not Hal's goddamn PA, I only know that if you two mess things up here, we could be finished," she snapped, swiping at his ears, and having to bite her lip to stop herself from shrieking in rage when he kept dodging her, "Stop pussy-footing around and take your damn piercings out, or I'll rip them out myself!"

"Thanks Zee-zee, balance the fate of the company on our shoulders why don't you?" Jasper smirked, poking his tongue out. Fortunately for Ziva, he relented and managed to get his piercings out before she had a chance to get her twitchy hands on them.

At that moment, a young lady with cropped blonde hair and leaf-shaped earrings brushed past Ziva, sauntering up to Jasper.

"Oh, poor baby... you've grazed your ear!" Placing one dainty manicured hand on his chest, she stood slightly tippy-toed to lean up and lick the slight grazing on Jasper's ear, causing him to blush as red as his hair colour in surprise.

"W-WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING, Y-YOU CRAZY BI-" Ziva shrieked, her eyes burning with all a fire so intense it burned brighter than even the hottest depth of hell, launching herself at the strange woman who was all over her 'property'.

The young woman side stepped aside nimbly and giggled in an otherwise cute and tuneful way as Ziva almost went soaring head over heels off balance from missing her target so suddenly.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I had no idea he was your boyfriend. I'm Titania Viverri, by the way, and here's my government card. You've been expecting us, I presume?" the first of the two inspectors crooned, decidedly ignoring Ziva and eyeballing the two male agents with approval.  
>Leo gulped audibly, whilst Jasper, for once, was at a loss for words, rubbing the back of his head bashfully.<p>

"He is NOT my boyfriend!" Ziva started, hurrying to straighten herself. She had never been so angry and humiliated in all her life, and it was the biggest test of her already running thin patience to try to keep some air of professionalism. "I-I mean, a-anyway... I suppose you want the tour, do you?"

"Oh, of course. I'm sure your not-boyfriend can show me around just fine, right? He looks big, strong and capable... just the sort of man I like." Titania giggled, linking her arm through Jasper's, "I bet that's right, ain't it, handsome?"

Jasper glanced away shyly, still too speechless and embarrassed to even form a coherent reply beyond "I-If you s-say so..."

Ziva was almost reaching her boiling point and was seething behind them so angrily she'd begun grinding her teeth in rage. It was only when Leo gave her arm a meek little tap did she seem to come back to earth and remember there was both Leo and a second inspector present.  
>At this point, she couldn't be bothered to even make an effort and glared icily at the remaining inspector, waiting for an introduction, one which she hoped would come soon before that horrible hussy made off with Jasper. Who was definitely not her boyfriend, but without a doubt hers.<p>

"Carmelita Vixiena," muttered the remaining woman, introducing herself bluntly enough. She had a glare as icy as Ziva's, and hair as black as the night itself, and Ziva inwardly groaned realizing that she was likely going to be stuck with the 'emo goth' pair for most of the tour.

All Ziva wanted to do now was go up high on the roof of Arch Angel and scream, or shoot herself in the head. Or both.

"So, sweetness, what's it like to work for Arch Angel, hm?" Titania asked, practically smooshed up against poor Jasper, who gulped nervously.  
>He could feel Ziva's fiery x-ray vision attempting to melt the back of his head right off of his skull, and it was already uncomfortable enough without the inspector hitting on him every single time he so much as blinked.<p>

"I-It's uhh... It's uhh, c-cool, I guess... I uhh... I'm pretty good with a gun, I g-guess..." Jasper stammered, feeling like he'd lost so many IQ points from shame he may as well have been making chimpanzee noises.

"Ooohh myyy... I love a man who knows how to use his gun... I bet your personal gun is quite spectacular too, sweetness!" Titania giggled, reaching around to stroke his hair.  
>Ziva was breathing so heavily in rage behind them that she almost sounded like she was making the angriest impression of Darth Vader known to mankind, and was mentally imagining an airstrike swooping in and dropping a nuke on this floozy's stupidly-pretty blonde head.<p>

Carmelita thankfully hurried on ahead and tugged Titania off to one side, hissing into her ear irritably, "You're making a fool of yourself, and that Ziva woman is fast planning your funeral for you and readying up for an attempted assassination... for once in your life Tanukim- Titania, can you focus on the mission and not trying to get in the nearest human male's pants?!"

"Oh boo-urns, sweetie! It's just a bit of fun... besides, what's the harm in breaking up the tension? And good god is that man cute... have you been checking out his butt like I have?" 'Titania' giggled shamelessly. Carmelita all but face-palmed and groaned loudly, "Really, Cadmemo- Carmelita, sweetie, relax~!"

"Breaking the tension? If that Ziva woman had a tension meter, you would've blown it to smithereens by now. You're about 20 seconds from getting pulverized into data-mash at this point..." Carmelita growled, "So pull yourself together!"

Ziva on the mean-hand had grabbed Jasper by the back of his shirt and hauled him backwards, her grip on him like iron, "What the hell do you think you're playing at?!"

"Zee, look, I don't like it any more than you do, please believe me!" He pleaded, looking all wibbly and helpless, "But she's all over me like a cat in heat, dammit! What am I supposed to do?"

"W-What are you supposed to do?!" Ziva hissed, looking teary eyed, "You either stay away from that Boob Lady or you can sleep on the couch!"

"Aww, but Zee-zee! I didn't ask for her to latch onto me..." he sniffed miserably, fidgeting sadly with his tie, "a-and you can't do that, i-it's my apartment, r-remember?"

"It won't be for much longer if you don't ditch that overpaid government hooker! I can't stand seeing her get her nasty little claws into you, and the way she stares at your ass when you're not looking makes me want to vomit..." she whimpered, looking deeply upset.

Jasper seemed to perk up at that moment, but in a way that would soon see his eardrums obliterated. "Wait... if she's been checking out my ass, and you've been checking out on her checking out my ass... then that means you've been checking out my ass double!"

"JASPERRRRR!" Ziva screamed, immediately bursting into tears of anger and shame, marching off ahead, huffing and sobbing bitterly, "Forget the couch, you're sleeping on the doorstep toniiiiiiggghhtt!"

Jasper grinned, torn between finding her teary-eyed frustration cute but also feeling guilty for being amused over her jealousy. In the end, he chose to pursue her anyway.

"W-Well..." Leo mumbled to himself, where he'd been all but forgotten at the back, "a-at least nobody's picking on me this time..."

* * *

><p>Leo was the only one left now,and he was almost on the verge of fleeing from fear.<p>

He was trapped alone with the horrible 'boob-lady' whom was still pining after Jasper, and the 'scary lady' who had an aura even more imposing than 'Drill Sergeant Nasty', the man in charge of training the Agents. It was the worst day of his life, where every day for him was a bad day in general.

Ziva had dragged Jasper into the newly rearranged staff lounge and blocked the door up after her, to 'protect' Jasper from the 'government hooker further tainting him', or so she'd yowled through the door to Leo, and this is why it was now his sole responsibility to get the job done.

He'd been so eager to get the tour over and done with that he'd all but nearly run through the rest of the work place hurriedly mumbling the name of each area in a voice quieter than a mouse's, without elaborating on anything going on around them. As such, Carmelita and Titania (aka, Cadmemon and Tanukimon) did not learn as much as they hoped they could.  
>It was a disappointing turnout for both parties, it seemed.<p>

"This guy is annoying, now. We need to get him down a place where there aren't many people and get him out of the way." Cadmemon whispered to Tanukimon sharply, "Besides that, I don't know how much longer I can keep this disguise up for... it's really draining, and if we don't act fast we won't have enough energy to get back out with Sastrugamon..."

"I'm aware of that, sweetie-fox..." Tanukimon whispered back. Several times they'd almost lost sight of Leo where he was scurrying on ahead like a jittery squirrel. He was so jumpy and paranoid, it was starting to wear down on them both, and each time he caught them whispering, Tanukimon had felt positive he was growing suspicious. "The next moment we get, we'll do it then, darling."

Eventually, Leo had reached a 4-way split in the corridors. Just as he was about to ask them where they'd like to go next on their whirlwind tour, both ladies had him pinned against the wall, an action that had the poor guy having a sensory overload from them breaching his personal space in such an extreme way. The only sound he could even make was a panicky squeak of fear, with his whole life flashing before his eyes.

"Sorry sweetie, it's been fun, but the tour's come to an end. I think it's time you had a nap!" Tanukimon 'advised' sternly. Leo stared up in panic stricken disbelief as animal-like ears seemed to 'ping' up on top of the 'inspector's heads, a striped tail poofing up from behind Titania and two black fox tails from behind Carmelita, as 'Carmelita' dealt a swift blow to the back of his head, knocking him unconscious.

Time was up, and in a burst of smoke, where two 'government inspectors' had once stood now stood Tanukimon and Cadmemon in their true forms.

"A pity, really... in the end, this one turned out to be super cute, too," Tanukimon commented, before squealing where Cadmemon had had enough and decided to punishingly bite her raccoon dog tail to remind her of her priorities. "Eeeeek!"

"You sleazy alcoholic pervert, stick with the program! Yggdrasil be damned, Tanukimon, you're even worse than Clefmon!" the black fox snapped. "Come on, we need to find the-"

"Containment area, right?"

The sudden unexpected voice had both girls jump a foot in the air in surprise, whirling around to find the source.

They were met by Yalimon and Panthermon.

* * *

><p>"So, ladies, what's the plan now you're inside?" Yalimon asked the two unexpected guests, as he and Panthermon escorted both Resistance digimon inside Unit E-1.<p>

"Well, darling, our friends at the Resistance set us up with a spare modified Arch Angel PDA, so we can digitize Sastruga-sweetie inside and then be on our merry way," Tanukimon explained. Yalimon and Panthermon were both hoping this plan would work.

"So... about you guys, you're...?" Cadmemon began, hurriedly interrupting Tanukimon on a subject she felt she wouldn't get the chance to speak about again. "I mean... why are you even helping us? We were fighting last time, against Ikkakumon..."

"Best way I can put it is that we're spies for the Heraldic Knights. Not sure if you've heard of our work... but we were sent in to keep tabs on Arch Angel, and that means playing the part," Panthermon replied. "That's a story for another time, but regardless, whatever happens right now, our priorities and mission is for the same cause; to bust Sastrugamon out of here."

"We lost all hope, there's just no way we'd be able to get him out ourselves," Yalimon added, "We needed a miracle, today... here's hoping now is the chance we can save him."

All four digimon felt confident that this truce and allying on sides could help them succeed in their 'jailbreak'. Sastrugamon's cage was just in sight, they were so close-

"Heeeeyyy guys!"

Diebmon seemed to materialized out from above, taking all four digimon by surprise. He'd been sitting on top of one of the empty cages when he'd seen them pass. Cadmemon cursed out loud in shock, which alerted Greg, who wasn't too far from them. They were not as alone as they had thought, and this was not going to be an easy victory, to the dismay of the entire party.

"Dammit!" Panthermon hissed. In the blink of an eye, all four had pounced poor Diebmon, holding him still and making sure his beak was held shut to prevent him from alerting Greg.

The poor bewildered magpie stared up in confusion looking utterly betrayed by Panthermon and Yalimon, his own seniors, as Greg passed by on the other side of a storage crate; they'd only just narrowly avoided being caught.

"Diebmon... shhh, shhh... don't panic..." Yalimon whispered, "I'm going to remove my hand from your beak, but I need you to promise not to utter a word... do you understand?"

Diebmon nodded to the best of his ability, his eyes as wide as saucers. Yalimon chose to place trust in the little bird digimon and slowly removed his hand. All four of the digimon quietly backed off and gave him space to sit up.

"This is important, okay? Greg mustn't know we're in here. You have got to get him out of here, I... someone's life depends on it..." Yalimon whispered urgently, Panthermon and Cadmemon constantly peering out in fear. Greg's voice could be heard calling for Diebmon nearby.

"Diebmon? Come on, fella, out you come. This is no time for hide and seek!" Greg called, sounding worried. It was unlike Diebmon to go off like this and be so unresponsive.

Diebmon was torn, and carefully weighing things over in his mind. He loved Greg dearly, Greg was his number one, his best friend and big brother. It felt utterly wrong not to go running out and tackle his leg from behind in a tight hug. But... someone's life seemingly hung in the balance? The little magpie didn't understand, but it sounded horrible. Ultimately, he decided that helping the digimon out held sway this time, and hoped Greg would forgive him if he ever found out the truth.

"I... I can try..." Diebmon muttered, looking pain. Yalimon and Panthermon knew this was a big thing to ask of the little magpie and hoped he knew how appreciative they were.

"We're so close... Sastrugamon's cage is just a little further in the unit, we can do this..." Panthermon muttered, overcome in desperation. A heavy tension had fallen over the entire room, they'd come too far to allow even the slightest mistake now.

Diebmon snuck out from their crates and climbed up on top of the nearest cage, watching Greg. His Agent's back was turned, where he was currently preoccupied with looking inside an empty cargo box for his feathered friend.  
>He braced himself to ready his plan, his mind working a mile a minute where so much seemed to rest on making sure there were no humans to interfere in whatever the four digimon depending on him needed to do.<p>

Taking a deep breath, Diebmon jumped off the cage and landed was a loud thud on his back, a pained groan escaping from him. The fall hurt a lot less than the feeling in his heart from where he felt he was betraying Greg, and hoped he never had to do something like this again.

"O-Oooohhh..." Diebmon croaked sorely, Greg rushing to his side in an instant, "it hurts... it hurts so much, Greg!"

"Diebmon! Oh no... is it bad? Can you move?" Greg's voice was gentle and full of concern, and just hearing it felt like a knife being twist through Diebmon's heart. "Hold on, I'll get you to the medical ward... it looks like you've sprained your ankle..."

"I'm sorry, Greg..." his partner whimpered, his throat feeling sore and tight. Greg insisted he needn't apologize, but then, Greg didn't know the truth. Diebmon still felt in low spirits even after the apology, and remained so even when safely stored inside Greg's D-Drive.

The four digimon watched guiltily as Greg leaved, each heaving a deep sigh from how tense it had been.

"Come on, we'll need to get to the cage, before anyone else comes... I don't know if we have much time left to get to him, and Frigimon is depending on us to bust him out of here." Cadmemon urged, as the small group began hurrying onwards.

So close, so close... skidding around boxes and crates, the digimon group hurried, before being greeted by a sight that made their blood run cold.

The cage was empty.

"No..." Cadmemon whispered, her eyes wide in shock and disbelief, every hair on her neck standing on end. "No! They can't have taken him, we're before time, aren't we?! Why?!"

Tanukimon held onto Cadmemon tight, as the small black fox began to choke back on her sobbing. Yalimon had dropped to his knees in griefstricken, Panthermon burying her face in his shoulder, her tears dampening his mane.

"Someone must have come early because of the inspection..." Yalimon muttered, his hands shaking, "they must have taken him to prevent him being seen in a bad state by the 'inspectors'..."

"Y-You're saying it's our fault?!" Cadmemon shrieked, her face flaring red from the combination of tears, and now anger, "You... you're saying we condemned him... with the plan to... t-to..."

"This is my fault..." Tanukimon whispered, her voice faint and wavering. As much as she try to wipe tears from her eyes, they kept coming. "I shouldn't have t-tried to... lead a plan... I'm no good at these things, and... and because of me, Sastrugamon is..."

There came a violent vibration and buzzing sound from the Resistance digimon's loaned PDA, making all four of those present jump in shock. It was a message baring a sliver of hope.

"Hi. It's me, SysOpmon.  
>We lost contact with you a while back, but you didn't seem to notice.<br>Listen, Cadmemon, Tanukimon, it's not too late. Maybe there is still time.  
>Seth and I have been scouring the cameras.<br>A man called Brian came in about thirty minutes ago to take Sastrugamon somewhere, we located him next at the medical ward.  
>Seems he was doing a last minute check-up, don't know why, but it buys us one last chance.<br>He's heading down to the bottom level, the restricted zone.  
>If you can get there before he does, use the PDA, link it up to the door panel down there and I'll get you in.<br>I can't reach it from here; there's no net access down there.

You can't afford to waste anymore time. Hurry."

* * *

><p>SysOpmon had marked the fastest route on a map on the spare PDA, and the digimon group were running the hardest marathon in a bid to reach the right place on time. No words were spoken, but all four runners were unified in cold determination to save the life of Sastrugamon.<p>

The elevator ride down felt like a descent into hell. To try to ignore the numbers counting up (despite heading down) like the worst countdown timer, Cadmemon decided to finally break the silence.

"Unit E-1, Death Row... digimon are normally killed on the spot in there, right...?" Her mouth felt like rough sandpaper, and she felt nauseated and faint, trying to lickher dry lips. The action brought little comfort. "Why... if Sastrugamon is needed alive, why keep him in such a place...?"

"He's on the 'hit list'. He was needed alive, but when we were being briefed, our Agents and us, they don't ever fill us in on what. They do it to keep people in the dark, so they don't freak out over the truth..." Yalimon muttered, wringing his tail anxiously in his hands, "This company was built on lies and deceit. But as long as they protect the city for humans, it doesn't matter what happens to digimon, even if they're innocent..."

"We didn't anticipate this when we volunteered to be... placed within the ranks," Panthermon added, in reference to the dark happenings around the building, "We were, and still are, investigating other things. To find out if there's a link between Arch Angel and the virus in the digital world."

"I... wouldn't be surprised, knowing these people..." Cadmemon mumbled. Her legs felt weak, but in another few floors, it'd be crunch time. "Most of them seem so... anti-digimon... I don't like this place, not one bit..."

The group fell into silence again as the elevator shuddered to a halt on the final floor. The final destination.

The elevator doors opened to a long, dark corridor. Strange, almost alien-like marks ran up and down the walls like veins, causing the lighting to look strange. It was like they had stepped into another world entirely.  
>This floor contained the main laboratories, a testing chamber with enough strength to survive a nuke blast, and maximum security containment, as well as an abandoned section that had been boarded up for years, or so Yalimon explained quietly to the two girls from the Resistance.<p>

"Agents can come down here, but only to patrol the halls. Only people with the high enough clearance can enter the maximum security place, and absolute highest level of clearance is needed for everything else..." Panthermon explained. None of this made a real difference, but at least it assured the other two digimon that they were still on Earth, and not some hellish nightmare.

It was terrifyingly quiet, and so dark, they could have heard the beating from a butterfly's wings. The vein-like patterns on the walls seemed to rhythmically pulse, in a way that disturbingly resembled a beating heart.

Finally, the time came to enter the final destination, the last place left to go. After hooking up the PDA, the four waited in an agonizing silence, surrounded by such a quiet and terror-filled tension, the atmosphere almost felt alive. With a whirr and a clang, the gears and machinery controlling the locks on the thick security doors went into motion, and the door leading into the testing chamber.  
>They would be the first, and perhaps only, digimon of their standing to enter. They may have felt proud for making 'history' had it not felt like stepping into the arms of death.<p>

The chamber was gigantic, with a huge colosseum like pit in the center, encircled by support pillars. The tell-tale red stains of bloodshed smearing the walls and floor indicated it had been used recently, too. Stairs to one side of the room lead up to a smaller chamber, where terminals and control panels took up an entire wall with a super-resistant reinforced viewing window or screen served as a shield against attacks from on-lookers overlooking the stadium below.

The very sight and nature of this horrible place made the small group feel sickened to the pits of their guts, but they were in no position to dwell on such feelings as it stood now.

"Quick, we need to hide..." Tanukimon urged, after the door slid shut behind them with a loud clang. They could make out voices muttering together in the distance.

Hurrying about, they found a blackened alcove behind a support pillar. Cadmemon used her Shadow Attraction ability to hide all four of them in the darkness of the shadows, the sound of footsteps growing closer.

After what felt like an eternity, the door slid open once more. Three men entered; the dark haired Hideki, grinning away in his sickening way, followed by the red-headed Brian, looking apathetic and unreactive, and lastly, Hal Becker, head of Arch Angel himself.

Cadmemon was about to dive out and attack on sight, but Yalimon held her back by her tails, hauling her hurriedly under cover once more. She stared at him, dumb-founded.

"W-Why? They're right there... Sastrugamon is in that storage transfer device thing...! Let me go, Yalimon!" she hissed, struggling to get free.

The purple-furred beast and his panther colleague hurriedly covered her mouth and fought to keep her restrained. "You don't understand... those two have some of the strongest digimon in the entire company! You'll get butchered for sure trying to rush out blindly!"

"But I don't see any other-" Tanukimon started, before Panthermon pointed her paw out.

"He's hidden, that's why. But... right there..." Panthermon motioned over towards the alcove opposite theirs, where Cadmemon could just make out the tall, humanoid shape of the jester-like Tarockmon. "He's very dangerous... he'll skewer you dead before your heart even gets a second beat in..."

"A-Are you saying we d-do nothing?" Cadmemon whispered tearfully, watching as Brian realized Sastrugamon out onto the floor, and despite the great bird's wounds having been healed, there was nothing reassuring about the sight.

Hal had one hand folded across his chest, resting his chin on the back of his other hand, looking deep in thought. He nodded his silent approval for Brian and Hideki to continue.

Sastrugamon was still too weak to move, but his eyes followed the men around the room wearily. Both were heading towards a control panel loaded with countless buttons. Sastrugamon, though his eyes looked empty, soulless and devoid of emotion, now, was shivering noticeably.  
>Despite his resolve not to show any fear to his captors, the last emotion left for him now was an increasing sense of anxiety.<p>

The four digimon were too frightened at what happened next that they were rooted to the spot in fear.  
>All they could do was watch in horror as Sastrugamon was brutally and mercilessly slaughtered before their eyes.<p>

Two thick cables burst out from panels in the floor around Sastrugamon, pinning him down. The sudden attack finally broke the already broken digimon further, and he began to shriek and struggle hopelessly against the far stronger material. The cables pinned him down so tightly, the sound of cracking ribs could be heard before his agonizing shrieks drowned the horrific sounds out.

Panels opened up from the walls, robotic claws shooting out straight for the thrashing digimon, grabbing at him, and beginning to pull him apart from every angle. One of his wings was violently ripped off, causing blood to splash across the cold metal floor, before it dissipated into data.  
>His talons writhed and twitched, bent into odd angles as the claws continued to pull him apart forcefully.<p>

Hideki grinned, rubbing his hands together in sickening glee at the wretched scene, each bloodcurdling scream giving him intense euphoria. Brian remained steadfastly unemotional, watching with eyes that held no mercy or compassion towards the mutilated creature.

Hal seemed repulsed, stepping backwards and covering his mouth, and Tarockmon winced and cowered backwards, but was unable to take his eyes off of the machine breaking Sastrugamon apart piece by painful piece.

With one last agonized, gut-wrenching scream, Sastrugamon burst apart into blood-red clouds of data, his white feathers fluttering down around the room like snow. His digicore, the last remnant left of him, was all that remain.

Yalimon gagged and retched behind his hands, fighting hard to resist vomiting. Cadmemon's mouth was covered by Panthermon to try to prevent her from screaming; the black fox was fast entering a panic attack from trauma. Tanukimon wept brokenly into her hands, curled up in a fetal position.  
>They'd witnessed hell within this twisted room, and could barely wrap their minds around or process what happened.<p>

"Was... was that really necessary?" Hal croaked. He was trembling, forced to lean against one of the pillar for support. He looked uneasy and faint, and this had been something even he hadn't anticipated.

"Yes." Brian replied in a blunt, matter-of-fact voice. "The specimen must not be touched or handled by another living thing. It must remain untainted, and pure. The digicore is at risk of being destroyed or tainted had we used one of our own to dispose of it."

"For the perfect integration of this digicore, it can't risk having other people's crap on it, so no fingerprints, blood or anything that could cause our Subject to mix up the DNA, or confuse it." Hideki smirked. He was still jittery and only now just coming out from the high he'd had watching the murder of Sastrugamon.

"Our subject's immune system is very weak. If the subject is tainted, or ill, or suspected of carrying the virus infection, we risk losing it, and jeopardizing the entire project." Brian added, thrusting his arms into his pockets, "it's either these lowly specimens, or your lifelong dream, there can be no grey area in regards to ensuring a 100% success rate."

Hal swallowed, before nodding in repulsed, hesitant acceptance. "Fine... but I refuse to stand audience and attend the next... extraction."

"As you wish," Brian replied. Tapping another set of buttons, one claw remained, which dealt with the digicore. Firmly in place, the claw placed Sastrugamon's glowing digicore into a reinforced glass case for safety, which Brian and Hideki prepared to move, to where, the digimon who bore witness wouldn't know.

After the Arch Angel group had left, the four digimon were now left alone to their misery, unrestrained in their grief. Everything had gone wrong; the entire day had been one long descent into the absolute unthinkable.

And they still had to get back out and bear the tragic news to Sastrugamon's friends.


	12. Bolt from the Blue

It was currently 7am at the electrical plant.

Takeshi had only just started his shift, and was rubbing the sleep out of his tired eyes. As a college graduate, he'd only been in this new job as an apprentice for a few days, and so he hadn't quite gotten into the swing of things around here, let alone the layout.

And already, everything was off to a bad start. The outside areas surrounding the plant had seen vandalism, and now, the problems had found their way inside; there were near constant cuts and power failures.  
>At first, they had been minor incidents that had been more easily repairable, now, it was getting out of hand; somehow, areas of the plant had started losing power, as if being drained.<p>

And then he'd found evidence of a break in, and damaged wiring. Everything was pointing towards it being the vandals that had wrecked part of the fencing and even felled some smaller trees around the wooded area surrounding the place.

Scaling the steps up towards his supervisor's office, which overlooked most of the plant, he overheard the loud, angry voice of his boss from within, arguing with someone over the telephone.

After waiting until he could hear her slam the phone down in frustration, he braced himself, and knocked.

"Come in!" his supervisor snapped, tapping her pen down on her desk. She was chewing her lip and looking bitter about something.

"Gloria..." Takeshi started, clearing his throat, "We found evidence of a break in, and damages..."

"I'm already aware of that." Gloria snapped, "I sent out for pest control, but they're right on the other side of the city. We'll be waiting all day at this rate!"

"And the police?" Takeshi inquired, wringing his hands slightly. Gloria stared at him in confusion, before he quickly added, "Far be it for me to suggest this, but... The break in seems a bit much for just an animal... I really think it could be vandalism, or-"

"Rats." Gloria snapped, talking over him. "Rats, or foxes. There's never been a break-in and there never will be. We're surrounded by woodland, and we're prone to getting the odd rodent scurry on through. I shouldn't worry about vandals."

"But... but..." Takeshi stammered anxiously, pointing his thumb over his shoulder, "If you'd just like to see for yourself, it's clearly..."

"Look, Takeshi..." Gloria said, leaning forward in her leather-padded office chair, resting her chin on the back of her hand, "You're wasting time. The longer you stand around talking nonsense about vandals, the longer the problem goes unfixed. Just get yourself down there and help get the wires replaced and the damages mended, got it?"

Takeshi sighed and left, wondering what his supervisor's problem had been. Did she just not care? This was an incredibly serious issue, and it disappointed and worried him that she was blatantly sweeping it aside under the assumption of 'pests'.

In truth however, Gloria was more aware of the problem than the newbie plant worker seemed to realize. She'd been talking to someone on a level higher than mere pest control, or even the police.

"God..." Gloria muttered, leaning back in her chair, staring out of the window overlooking her area of the plant at the people milling about below trying to make sense of the increasingly tense atmosphere that had fallen over the place. "I certainly hope it's not what I think it is..."

Unlike Takeshi, who was new to the plant, older workers, or ones that lived locally, had a reason to be worried. Three years ago, there had been a serious incident that had seen the loss of many lives, with many people left grievously injured.

That incident was one that had involved Digimon.

* * *

><p>Yalimon and Panthermon were both slumped down in the back of the board room against the wall, looking hopelessly down.<p>

The whole ordeal with Sastrugamon had left them void of energy, or the will to do anything, behaviour which had garnered a lot of yelling from Ziva, and a lot of worry from Jasper.  
>It had been an absolute miracle they'd gotten the girls out alive, too.<p>

Cadmemon and Tanukimon had been in no shape to transform any more that day, but it had been imperative that they leave as soon as possible. Leo had been found unconscious and someone must have raised the alarm, because not long after leaving the darkest, deepest floors of Arch Angel, and leaving the grisly murder scene behind them, had the alarm system gone off.

Some quick improvisation had seen Cadmemon and Tanukimon forced to take the forms of two random office workers, and thankfully, they'd managed to escape out through the west car park without incident. And that had been the last Yalimon and Panthermon had seen of them, after a hasty and half-hearted farewell.

Things had been incredibly awkward since then. Both were too out of it to socialize much at home, and things had been tense as hell between Ziva and Jasper, too.

Leo being overpowered by the 'boob lady' had nearly cost him his job. Both Ziva and Brian had been pressing to get him removed for 'incompetence' and Jasper had fought nail and tooth to keep him on board, and it had taken all of Jasper's rationalization and reasoning to convince both of them to reconsider.

Jasper was sat now beside Leo at the far end of the table, away from everyone else. Ziva was glaring bitterly down at them from up front, and Bao and Greg both had their heads bowed solemnly. All of them were destined for a chewing out from Brian, who seemed to be running late because of the power problems that day.

"Leo... are you alright?" Jasper whispered, his arm around Leo's shoulder in a bid to comfort him, "Look... I've sorted it out, now, okay...? Your job, and Risumon, are safe now..."

Leo sniffed, his eyes looking sore and watery. Jasper could feel him shaking against his arm, and bit his lip sadly. Both of them had been keeping something secret from the others, and Jasper was positive Ziva was getting incredibly suspicious.

"I'm sorry..." Leo mumbled, wiping his eyes on the back of his sleeve, "Every single time I mess up, y-you've gotta clean up b-behind me... I hate doing this to you..."

"It's fine, really..." Jasper whispered back soothingly, giving his shoulder an affectionate pat, "That's what family is for, eh?"

That was the secret both had kept for the longest time, now. If Ziva or Brian knew, they'd argue Jasper down over showing 'clear bias' and 'skewed judgement', and pull apart any argument he had in Leo's favour due to an 'emotional/familial bond'.

Jasper and Leo had both been shocked on discovering each other's 'hidden lives' the day Leo and Risumon had been tracked down by Ziva whilst out on a patrol. Neither had known of the other having digimon, and in Leo's case, the job Jasper had been working.  
>And considering, had Leo declined the initial job offer, that Risumon would be taken from him and potentially face deletion, or forcefully 'rebooted' into an egg to be reiterated into an Arch Angel-controlled PDA, this was something Jasper refused to allow happen.<p>

"_I can't let them take Risumon..._" Jasper had thought then, and repeatedly kept in mind even now, "_Not when she's Leo's life-line..._"

Leo had been fighting off a multitude of problems since childhood, and Risumon had been there every step of the way when Jasper couldn't, to help Leo cope. Jasper felt that Leo may not even have held on for so long had it not been for the squirrel digimon, who was currently hidden away in his cousin's D-Drive, perhaps to try to spare her from witnessing anymore shame and humiliation on Leo's part.

Jasper ruffled Leo's hair affectionately, before getting to his feet. "Alright... I guess it's time we man up and face the music, right? Let's get this over with, and get to the front..."

Leo kept shaking even as he got to his feet, and reluctantly trailed after his red-headed cousin to the front of the room. Both tried to look innocent as they took their seats, Jasper beside Ziva, and Leo by Bao opposite of them.

"What were you two talking about?" Ziva hissed into Jasper's ear not even a second before he'd sat into his seat, "I don't get it. Why are you even making such a huge effort with him? He's a lost cause, a disgrace... I just don't get why you're buddying up with him all the time..."

"_Someone_ has to." Jasper growled, trying to keep the defensive tone to a minimum, but Ziva was fast trying his patience. They'd been fighting over Leo since the security breach, "I think you and Brian are being _far_ too critical and harsh placing everything that went wrong on top of his shoulders... if you want my opinion, I think-"

"You think _what_, exactly, Lynch?"

Jasper bit his lip so hard he almost drew blood, where Brian's sudden appearance at the door had taken him by surprise. There was a lot Jasper wanted to say, but he couldn't risk his job just to get everything off his chest. As much as he wished to give his superior a piece of his mind, it would be counter-intuitive and dangerous, and Brian knew this.

If Jasper lost his job, there would be nobody except maybe Bao, if he was lucky, to defend Leo, and then Leo would have nobody to bail him out, and they'd soon find some excuse to kick the dark-haired young man out, and tear Risumon from his grasp.

"...Nothing." Jasper mumbled. He leant back in his chair, arms folded, glaring off to the side in frustration.

"If that is all, then I'll be taking over, Lynch," Brian continued, his gaze turning from Jasper to Ziva, "And you too, Weizman. Nobody in this room has any right to complain, considering the position your negligence left the company in."

"With all due respects, sir, it's hardly our fault we can't see through a digimon's transformation guise," Bao quipped, regarding Brian was a frosty-looking stare, "Unless we're all given visors like Alma's, there's no way we can tell a fake human from a real one."

Brian fixed Bao with a stern glare, pursing his lips in frustration, "Investigations were carried out after..." Leo shuddered visibly as Brian turned towards him, "...Carter's descriptions before that utter disgrace of a spectacle..."

"Sir..." Greg piped up, hazarding a guess at what was coming; but Brian spoke over him.

"...And we matched them to be those of Tanukimon and Cadmemon, digimon belonging to a group of _pathetic teenagers_ with too much time on their hands!" Here it came, the anger that Brian had been holding back on, but had always been there, steadily boiling away along with the remains of his patience, "You are all hired to maintain and keep a tight check on things around here, and make sure such breaches don't happen. And what happens? Digimon belonging to _CHILDREN_ traipse through, and knock out one of your number, and go undetected for close to an _hour_!"

All five of the agents present hung their heads in shame, as Brian continued to mercilessly chew them out in his hate-fuelled way. The only thing that caused a pause in his tirade was the power cutting out again.

"For god's sake..." he snarled, smacking his hand down violently on the table in anger. "I'm _tired_ of this. If it is not you agents and the security team making an absolute _mockery _of the company, it's the power. I'm too busy to waste any more time dealing with you. You should be thankful any of you are leaving with your jobs _intact_... now _get out_, and make sure this doesn't _ever_ happen again. Do I make myself clear?"

The group nodded and mumbled in confirmation; it was very clear, alright.  
>After this, Brian left in an even more foul mood than when he had first entered, leaving the group of Agents in silence.<p>

"God... what's even up with him? I fail to see how he can get away with this... we're not the only Agents in the building..." Jasper grumbled, getting to his seat as everyone began shuffling off towards the door in unified misery.

"Actually, a number of the other agents lost their jobs," Greg responded. He'd given a sigh of relief that he hadn't been one such agent, especially after Diebmon's fall, though both had gotten a lashing from Brian later in the day after they had been discovered missing from the containment area. "I'm so lucky I didn't lose mine after Diebmon sprained his ankle falling off of a cage, silly bird... But the people in charge of security weren't so lucky. Even the head of security got fired!"

"Oh my god... really?" Ziva asked, wringing her hands anxiously, as the group began to head down the corridor, Yalimon and Panthermon trailing behind so quietly they may as just as well have been invisible. "I guess we're lucky we've got so much value as field agents... the security team has no room for mistakes."

"Yeah, they've even got a bunch of new recruits in, already... I don't think Mollie was fired; she's the one that raised the alarm after all." Greg stated. "The cameras got hacked, and she was trying to regain control. I don't know how a bunch of kids are capable of even getting through the computer systems here, but Mollie and her advisor managed to get things under control just in time."

Mollie was another agent, one assigned towards helping out with developing new technology, such as improvements towards the D-Drives and had been responsible for helping develop the anti-virus weapons. As such, due to her value, everyone was positive Mollie most likely had the most secure position of everyone on board.

"How did they even pull this off, anyway? What did they want?" Bao asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "They've only pulled a stunt like this once before, you'd think after the first time, they wouldn't try something like this again..."

"They had a big black dog bust them out last time, and that's the _only reason_ they got out unscathed," Ziva growled. The Resistance were making fools out of them, and she was sorely regretting not blasting the head off of the big fox digimon when she'd previously had the chance; and the fact that that same fox had been so close the entire time during that charade was pissing her off royally.  
>"They got lucky. They've got a bird digimon that can perfectly imitate the voice of anyone it hears, so it imitated the prime minister and set up that entire farce of an inspection from there! It <em>pisses me off<em>!"

"Quite clever, I'll give 'em that," Jasper commented, mostly to himself, "But honestly? How are we supposed to tell? The bird can perfectly mimic other people, and two of their digimon can fake the perfect disguises... though I had my suspicions about that boob-lady from the beginning... I mean, you'd need to be crazy to be interested in a guy like me. Y'know, like Ziva, hehehe..."

Jasper grinned and narrowly avoided getting elbowed in the gut by Ziva, who had teared up where she still held some feelings of jealousy over 'Titania' handling _her_ man. "Jerk! You know how upset that made me, and I am NOT crazy! How can you even joke around after all of this?!"

"Look, Zee. It's been a pretty crappy day so far, and everyone's worked up and miserable," He replied, nudging her arm gently, "Frankly, I'm done being angry. All we can really do is put our all into making sure we don't fuck up next time, right? And we can't do that being stressed out and upset."

"He has a point," Bao added, "If we focus too much on playing the blame game we'll probably end up making the same mistakes as before. We need to keep a calm mind to concentrate better."

Ziva huffed out a sore 'humph!' in response, and Leo sniffled, still looking tearful, but otherwise, everyone seemed to agree this was the best idea right now. Things could surely only go up from here.

"Oh, do you guys wanna come check out the new recruits? Their interviews should have finished by now, if they're not running behind," Greg exclaimed, as they reached a branch in the corridor. "I've been asked to give a tour of the place, especially since one of the people I'm showing around will be my new team leader, the new head of security."

"This ought to be fun. Just, let's not share any of the horror stories from earlier, heh... don't want them to think they're partnered up with a bunch of uncool losers, eh?" Jasper smirked, folding his arms behind his head.  
>"Oh just shut up, Jasper! I'm really not in the mood for any jokes..." Ziva grumbled, glaring at him from the corner of her eye. Greg smiled softly and added in something he hoped would lighten her mood up, if only to help stop her from eyeballing Jasper as though he were a living punch-bag.<p>

"This might cheer you up, but two of the three new agents are women," Greg stated. "Now you won't have to feel like the smurfette of the group, eh?"

Although there was Mollie, Ziva and the others rarely had much time to meet up with her since she was often busy with the computer systems and helping keep maintenance over the server room. Her role had her placed in what was arguably one of the most important areas in the entire building, situated on a floor just above what was considered the 'max security' area, and this left little time for socializing.

By now, everyone was stood outside of a room often used for interviews. It was a spacious room with plenty of seating space, had an adjoining office and was at the front of the building near to the reception lobby, but hadn't seen too much use until today.  
>Inside, there was a young korean man with bright pink hair, and a dark-haired young lady of African descent sat within.<p>

"I dunno..." Jasper grinned, looking at the pink haired guy sat within, "He looks pretty girly to me. A right 'Agent Peacock', hehehehehe...!"

This time, Jasper failed to see Ziva's elbow coming, and he wheezed dramatically on being caught in the side by his temperamental blue-haired partner, "Stop making rude remarks, idiot. Like you can even talk, when your family is a tree-hugging rainbow-hippie _freak show_..."

"Hey, I'm proud of my family! And seriously, that guy's already got my respect. It takes seriously big balls to dress up like that and not fear judgemental people like a _certain roomie_ of mine calling them a 'freak show'." Jasper grinned, "I'm pretty sure we'll get on like a house on fire, us 'freaks' gotta stick together, right? _Ouch_! Quit it, Zee, I'll stop, I'll _stop_...!"

As Ziva went for Jasper's jugular, Leo finally piped up and asked Greg, "S-So, who are they anyway...?"

"Well, the guy Jasper's already entering a 'bromance' with is Nero. He's from Korea, and I think his family bought his way in... but if you ask me, I think they just wanted to get clear of his digimon, Hulimon, to be honest." Greg answered, indicating the smirking fox that seemed to be wearing a traditional oriental fox mask on his face.

Said fox seemed to be doing his absolute best to annoy Nero, and was succeeding at it with ease by the frustrated look on the his face. "I've heard he's supposedly really good in melee combat, Mollie was excited to finally have a guinea pig to test out her new stun weapon she's been developing."

Jasper had an otherwise intensely starry-eyed expression of idolization on gaining this knowledge, and was almost smooshing himself against the glass in awed admiration. Ziva gritted her teeth enviously and began trying to peel him away from the window. Greg chose to ignore this, and carried on with introducing the other agent sat within.

"As for the young lady beside him, that's Tory. She's been aiming for university, and seems to have a talent at reading Digimon Alphabet. Brian practically tripped over himself trying to get her a position here after discovering that talent, and she seems like a very smart and resourceful girl." Greg continued, before being cut off by Jasper, whom Ziva had succeeded in prying away from the window.

"Holy CRAP, finally someone Brian doesn't hate?!" Jasper spluttered, a comment which garnered a few chuckles from the others.

"Yep, apparently, miracles do happen." Greg laughed, before continuing, "Her digimon is NiloCrocmon, and he's a bit of a glutton. Tory tells me she had trouble with her application form because NiloCrocmon managed to previously eat three previous attempts, even a digital copy she was trying to save from him. But I doubt she'll have any trouble being accepted when being backed by such skills."

NiloCrocmon could be seen beside her, currently snacking on a magazine from a pile on the waiting room table that everyone had distinctly remembered holding quite a few more magazines than that previously

"And the last girl?" Bao asked, leaning against the wall slightly.

As if on cue, the office door past the waiting room opened, and a blonde haired girl with icy-looking eyes stepped out, accompanied by an adorable white fox that had the appearance of wearing a thick winter jacket over itself, who was doing his best to look as stern as his partner, but instead just appeared even more cute and cuddly.

"Wow, speak of the devil... err, I mean... that's Margaret. I guess she'll be something of my 'boss'. She doesn't take silliness from anyone, so I'd watch out if I were you, Jasper." Greg grinned, "I think she'll be the solution to all our security problems. She's sharp, attentive and has a keen eye for any flaws that could arise. She also transferred over from the police force on Brian's request."

"I like her already." Ziva commented quietly, almost lost behind rose-tinted glasses. Finally, a like-minded lady like herself, and the idea of ganging up on Jasper and his sassy mouth was all too satisfying. "I hope to become very acquainted with Miss Margaret, and of course, Tory... I guess Nero too, but it seems he'll end up being hogged by Jasper almost exclusively..."

Jasper whistled innocently in a way that seemed to just scream 'don't you know it!'.

"Hey guys, what's up? Did I miss the new recruits?"

Mollie had to carefully sashay through the throng of Agents currently clogging up the entire corridor just to get to the window looking in over the waiting area.

"Oh, 'sup, Mollie?" Jasper said, greeting her warmly, "Everything going on alright down in the dungeons?"

Mollie laughed at the comment referring to the computer chamber she and her supervisor worked alone in as a 'dungeon' due to the near perpetual darkened gloom down there. But unfortunately, the irish Agent had little good news to report, "Sadly no. It's all still pear-shaped, and all the back-up power has been allocated to keeping the network up and running. A couple of the security doors have closed themselves up, so I came to tell you that there will be constant detours and reroutes around the building."

"Oh joy." Jasper sighed, rolling his eyes "It'll be like the extreme version of _The Crystal Maze_."

"Oh! I meant to ask you guys... Jasper, how is your arm doing? Any better? And Leo, I hope the others weren't rough on you... such an unfortunate thing to happen..." Mollie hadn't had much of a chance to come down and see what the 'field' Agents had been doing, but had been following up on news since the mission to capture Sastrugamon.

"Oh, this?" Jasper shrugged, rolling back his sleeve to show off the stitches his arm had needed after the glass had embedded into it, "They come out next week. I'll be glad to be rid of 'em. As for Leo, well..."

Leo glanced away awkwardly, looking guilty, and down as ever, which had everyone in turn feeling a bit awkward.

"Any idea what's even causing the power outages? I've never known them to be this bad... Well, except for that one three years ago. Power was out for a week." Bao stated after a moment's silence, in a bid to change the subject. But unfortunately Mollie was unable to answer, as her D-Drive began ringing loudly; it was a call from her supervisor that required her immediate attention.

"Sorry, Bao, you'll have to hold that thought... Looks like I'm being called off back to the line of duty again," Mollie gave him an apologetic look as she answered, turning her back on the group and walking further down the corridor to take her call.

A short while later, Mollie hurried back, looking worried. At this point, poor Margaret had been almost pinned against the wall by the group who were all trying to introduce themselves at once.

"Oh geez... sorry to interrupt, but introductions will have to wait! Something's come up on my supervisor's end, and you lot are needed in the containment area. Someone's reported that the outages are causing containment malfunctions and some of the electric cages are switching off!"

"Well, looks like this is our chance to redeem ourselves, and for Miss Margaret to show us what she's capable of." Ziva remarked, as everyone began hurrying off to their assigned tasks, Mollie to her supervisor and everyone else bar Nero and Tory towards the containment area.

It was going to be another hectic day on the job.

* * *

><p>"Hah! Looks like I won again!"<p>

Marina thrust one fist into the air in triumph, having been victorious in a game of Vii Sports Baseball against Amy for the second time in a row.

Amy puffed her cheeks up looking miffed, clutching her viimote control against her chest, "Ooooohhh...! That last hit spiked past at the last second and that's the ONLY reason I lost!"

"Just face it, Amy girl, I'm pitching for the virtual all-stars, and you bit the dust this time!" Marina grinned, poking one of her puffy cheeks playfully, "Maybe I'll autograph your bat for you!"

"I'll make you _eat_ the bat next time if you keep that up!" Amy replied, nudging the brunette back. She poked her tongue out in a cheeky way, causing both girls to fall into a fit of giggles, up until the power cut out again. "Oh geez... not again. Every time it seems like it's getting better, it fails again."

Marina groaned and stood up, offering a hand to help Amy up. Both girls placed their controllers back onto the side cabinet next to the TV, where the console and controller chargers sat, and went across to sit down on the couch facing opposite.

Amy had finished up most of her work at home, so she'd decided to come over and pay Marina a visit and see how both she and Kai were holding up since the unfortunate incident out in the blizzard.

Kai had been gruff and moody since, and seemed to be purposefully shunning Denimon, who had been moping off in his bed (which was a dog bed made for big species like great danes). He was busy in the kitchen coating up shrimp in breadcrumbs for lunch in order to make popcorn shrimp, with a homemade dip, to keep himself busy.

"Wow, Kai seems like a real whizz in the kitchen." Amy commented. She hoped she hadn't sounded rude, but since Kai hadn't seemed like the sort to be so into cooking, she'd been taken by surprise. "I wish I knew what I was doing half the time... aside from breakfast-stuff, I'm not very good at cooking."

"I can't cook at _all_." Marina grinned sheepishly, "Kai and Denimon are both really good, though. I didn't think digimon were even capable, but..."

"Oh god, really? We're being outclassed by a dinosaur!" Amy laughed, "I guess we've got no excuse not to practise, if Denimon can do it, after all."

"I'd like to learn to cook, too." Laelapmon muttered to herself from where she was half-dozing off on the armchair, "Then I can hide laxatives in Manimon's pancakes from getting syrup on my ears the other day..."

"Yup! I'm going to get all Master Chef on Maririn and you, and Laelapmon, just you wait and see!" Denimon smirked, heading over from his 'dino bed' to sit beside Marina. "Maririn promised after she got better we'd make muffins together... because I l_ove_ muffins. And I'm not going to share a single one with Kai-cha. Jerk!"

"You love food in general... heck, anything you can digest, even if it's _not meant for consumption_." Marina replied. She grinned at her irrepressible little digimon, prodding his nose whilst adding: "And try not to bully Kai, today, Denimon... you know he's been a little... _touchy_."

"I meant to ask if you were all okay..." Amy sighed, leaning back in her seat more. She felt the sickening pang of guilt deep inside, and bit her lip, "Kai was in pieces, and we honestly didn't know what to think when he told us what had happened. It was so surreal, and terrifying... and in the end, whilst we achieved what we'd initially set out to do, the entire thing was a mess..."

"It was... strange. For us, it was like being asleep... We honestly don't remember much, but it was just like waking up." Marina replied, trying to give Amy a reassuring and brave look, if only for the blonde's peace of mind. "I don't really want to dwell on it, though. At least it's over now-"

"But what if it _hadn't_?" came Kai's voice. Both girls jumped and sat up, where Kai was stood in the doorway, wiping his flour-covered hands off on his jeans. His expression was dark and full of bitterness, the look in his eyes making Amy's heart hurt from further increasing guilt. "What if you guys hadn't turned back to normal? _Fuck_, Marina, because those _useless freaks_ didn't defend you like they're _meant_ to, I..."

Already, what was meant to have been a fun day and a chance to hang out and let Amy and Marina get some quality time together was shattered. Kai had been a ticking time-bomb of emotion and now seemed the time he was set to figuratively detonate.

"Kai, don't start... not in front of my friend, _please_!" Marina asked. Her eyes had teared up, but it was inevitable. This had been building up since she and Darren and their digimon had been recovered, and despite her wishes that she'd rather not talk about this, Kai wasn't going to hold his silence on this any longer.

"For god's sake, she's _not your friend_. You guys _hardly_ know each other, and all of this was put together on the whim of a giant dog you don't even know for sure is on your side!" He snapped, positively spewing venom towards them all, "Do I need to _spell it out_? This shit is _DANGEROUS_, and I don't see why you can't leave it to those Resistance kids or Arch Angel. Maybe they don't mind getting themselves killed, but I care a whole damn lot when it's my baby sister out there!"

"Now hold on a second! You think that just because we're still getting to know each other that I don't care about Marina or Darren?!" Amy snapped, standing up. Laelapmon rushed defensively to her side, glowering up at Kai, "What happened was serious, and you were in no position to help her then. We had Marina and Darren in mind the entire time, as well as the good of the city. So many people were at risk of freezing to death because of the blizzard! Are you saying it's wrong to show some compassion?"

"Damn it, Amy, you guys need a reality check!" Kai snapped back, his face flaring up red from her defiance, "You should spend less time trying to _throw your lives away_, and focus on trying to live your damn life without risking it for strangers who won't even miss you when you're gone!"

"How fucking _cold_ can you be, Kai?!" Marina shrieked, hot tears streaming down her cheeks. Her outburst seemed to sting her brother, because he took a step back, a look of pained surprise on his face. "I don't want to just sit back and let people _die_! Not if I have the means to _prevent it_!"

"I'd rather be _cold_ than have to face waking up not knowing if it's the last day I see you alive! What the fuck would I tell dad? Could you even imagine what that'll do to him, to _me_, if that happened?!" Her brother was trembling all over, tears of rage forming in the corners of his eye. He was hurting inside all over, and he hadn't forgotten, or forgiven, what had happened to them during the botched blizzard journey. "You'd seriously make me choose between you and the city?"

"Don't even dare bring dad into this, Kai..." Marina sobbed. Amy hesitantly reached out to clasp her hand, and Marina clung to hers tightly. "If it was _Mayumi_ or her family in danger, you'd be glad of us having digimon, and rushing off to the rescue then!"

Mayumi was Kai's boss, and he'd come to develop feelings with her over the years. The pale-haired, fiery-tempered guy bit his lip angrily. Marina had hit a nail on the head, here.

"I knew it... you only care about people if they're important to you. Only then is what we do _important_." Marina snapped, bitterly. Denimon nuzzled against her leg sadly.

"Marina... that's not it..." he faltered, his voice softening. "But I don't understand why you're shouldering the safety of so many people on your shoulders..."

"_Someone_ has to." Amy replied, in a quiet, but firm voice, "I doubt that Arch Angel really cares about the fate of the city, only about killing or catching digimon... and the Resistance will always choose their own people over the ones up here, if they're given the choice. It doesn't leave a lot of people left to fight digimon up here. I... doubt that anyone, even Mayumi, could rely 100% on those two groups."

Kai swallowed, and was forced to back down. He was lost for words.

"I know you're not a bad person. And I can tell just how much Marina means to you... but the safety of the city means a lot to us. There seems like there's so much bad stuff on the horizon, running in the background, that trying to ignore it, or pretend it doesn't exist, will hurt us more in the long run..." Amy was insistent on trying to drive the point in.  
>"Does this mean our lives have to revolve around this? No, of course not. But when incidents happen, and we have the means to stop it, why shouldn't we? If you had the means to protect someone in need, I'm sure you would, if you really had the chance to. Morally speaking, letting people get hurt goes against what we stand for."<p>

The television and lighting flicked back on, suddenly, where power seemed to have briefly been restored. The tension that had fallen over the house was broken in that instant.

"Humph..." Kai growled quietly under his breath, "Do what you want, then. But please, for god's sakes... if it can be covered by the other people, let them do it. I don't want you taking on more than you're capable of... I don't think my heart can bear going through that nightmare again."

The girls watched Kai slink off back to the kitchen to finishing making the popcorn shrimp, in a guilty silence.

"I'm so sorry about today... I should have had this out with Kai sooner, rather than later..." Marina sighed. She felt down, and listless after the argument. "Maybe soon, we can meet up with the guys and have fun out, or something. I just want to take my mind off of all of this..."  
>"Sounds like a plan," Amy replied, heaving a heavy sigh. She hoped that Kai and Marina could reconcile. "But... as long as we believe we're doing the right thing, then we are, aren't we?"<p>

"That time we all first met near the concert hall... all the people, my fans, that came to see me... they could have gotten hurt by all those digimon, because of me." Marina lamented, wringing her hands, "There were so many people put at risk, because of me. When I think about what could have happened if I didn't take responsibility... it haunts me. That's how I feel, having Denimon; having a digimon is a responsibility to protect those at risk."

Amy nodded meekly in agreement. She'd felt the same way ever since gaining Laelapmon, and she felt Joey would agree, too. Having a digimon partner there seemed to instill this feeling into nearly everyone she'd met, the need to protect others.

Both turned their game back on, and started up a round of tennis, anything to try to move past the awkward, uncomfortable tension and try to stop thinking about the fight. Denimon had taken Laelapmon outside so they could play about with the sprinkler together, and for the most part, Kai was quiet.

When he next came out, he seemed to be feeling much better.

"Uhh... I come bearing gifts." He muttered, sheepishly averting his gaze. As both girls sat up from their seat on the floor in front of the TV, he got down and sat with them, setting down the plate of popcorn shrimp, some homemade french fries, and a dip of his own recipe. "Consider this a peace offering. I just can't help worrying... ok?"

"You're forgiven." Marina grinned. Amy smiled; finally, a silver lining had presented itself. "And we'll be a lot more tactful next time."

Kai cocked an eyebrow at his sister, but managed a brave smile back. "You'd better, or I'll have your guts for garters."

"Eww, guts! I'd rather have shrimps, thank you, Kai-cha!"

Denimon thrust his soaking head through the trio and immediately polished off at least a quarter of the plate, whilst Laelapmon shook herself off from behind and got everyone wet from the flapping of her long ears, which made both girls giggle at Kai's squealing and flailing.

"Oh my... are we having a wet t-shirt contest?" Marina laughed, indicating parts of Kai's shirt had gone see-through from where he'd caught most of Laelapmon's soak-attack. Amy giggled and covered her eyes dramatically as if she was seeing something utterly obscene and everyone bar poor Kai fell into hysterics.

Kai rolled his eyes and groaned, "Haha, yeah, _very funny_, but just you wait, when summer comes, I'm gonna get you all with the hose, got it?"

"So... are you saying I can come over for summer, then?" Amy asked. Kai's earlier comment on doubting her budding friendship with Marina had upset her, but she now held on to a glimmer of hope.

"...Yeah. Go on then. And I guess I'd like to see what this Joey guy you're 'teamed' with is like, too." Kai sighed, slicking his damp here back with one hand. "Hopefully his digimon is better behaved than these two and Elfinmon."

Kai was taken aback when both Amy and Marina burst out laughing, having to hold their sides.

"Oh god! If he thinks these two are bad, wait til he sees Manimon!" Amy laughed, having to hold her sides.

The idol singer was practically wiping tears out of her eyes where she was laughing too hard at Kai's nervous and confused expression, "Yeah, if he's really as bad as you've told me, I think Kai will just try to _flee the planet!_"

* * *

><p>"You should just call her already. I don't know why you're so hesitant."<p>

Joey startled from Manimon's voice suddenly sounding up at him from his D-Drive. It was around 9pm at night, and Joey had been out of work an hour, lingering around rather than heading straight home as he normally would.

"Well?" Manimon pressed after the blonde remained silent, "You're the one that pressed her to talk in the first place, right? You can't just go cold turkey on her now."

"I... I know." Joey muttered back. He had Neon... _Rin_... up on his contacts list, his thumb hovering over the key, teetering between hitting 'call' or 'cancel'. "But it's... complicated."

"It'll get more complicated the longer you leave it, though." Manimon sighed, shrugging his shoulders, "I swear to god... 'romantic crush logic' baffles the hell outta me."

"Manimon... I really need to consider the timing on this." Joey murmured down at the screen, leaning back against the bench he was sat on, "I can't do it over the D-Drive. That's... really terrible. It's something that needs to be done, one-on-one, face-to-face. But I feel horrible..."

"Because you yelled at her?" Manimon asked, his expression softening in empathy. He would have offered Joey his ears to stroke to soothe him, had they not been out in public.

"That, and just... ugh. I said stuff I'm not proud of... like implying I don't love her any more because she changed herself..." the cool night breeze from the artificial lake he sat looking over ruffled his hair, as he nursed at one of his sore temples gingerly with his finger tips. "That's really not how I intended to confess my love properly... I think she knew before that, but I'm rubbish at keeping my feelings in check. I messed everything up. I upset her."

"Joey... it's _okay _to be upset over what happened. There is no law saying you need to accept the change... you know her better than anyone, and I'm sure you'd know if it'd be... harmful for her to do that to herself." Manimon replied, "But really, you should talk to her. As much as I don't mind offering one of my big ol' bunny ears to your cause, she's the one you should focus on speaking to. Can you please try...?"

"I... just need the right time. Rin and I have... some heavy luggage from our past, and the reason this happened is because she's... _damaged_." Joey chewed on his lip anxiously, "I really don't want to go into it right now... it's painful. But it turned everything upside down. I didn't realize the extreme lengths she took until then..."

"I see..." The rabbit muttered, glancing down sadly. As curious as he was, this sounded like an incredibly touchy and deep-seated subject. "Well, you know what you're doing. But still, if you want my opinion, you should speak to her sooner rather than later. And maybe have a drink, a good drink seems to perk you up like a good'un."

"Hah, I don't know if I'm really up to going to a bar tonight, Manimon..." Joey sighed. Getting up, he gave a brief stretch from where he'd sat so long he felt stiff in the chill night air, and added, "...But it's a nice thought, though."

Pocketing his D-Drive, Joey headed off towards the train station to catch a train back home. The entire day had been uneventful; the power cuts meant he couldn't do much in the way of secretive digging to look for any more files pertaining towards his grandfather whilst at work. He'd almost exhausted the database and found nothing, which meant that it was either too late and he'd been wiped off the system, or...

...or his files were stored in a place beyond Joey's current authority. Garrick had been in a much higher position, if Joey remembered correctly. The problem with this theory was where else to look, and how to gain access. This was going to require a lot of thinking, which he felt he'd achieve better at home after a shower and a hot drink.

"Hey, stranger, how's it going?"

Joey almost jumped out of his skin when Darren appeared seemingly out of nowhere through a throng of tired-looking salary men and girls done up in full 'kogal' make-up likely heading off to go clubbing.

"Oh wow, hey! I wasn't expecting to see _you_ here." Joey responded, doing his best to sound as warm and inviting as he could. He didn't feel like having any more questions or probing into his 'girl problems' tonight. "I hope you and Marina have been doing well since the... you know..."

"Ye-eaahh... uncomfortable, but... we survived, as you can see." Darren grinned, rubbing the back of his head, "Been exercising out at the gym a few hours each day just to get rid of the stiff feeling in my joints. Elfinmon tends to have a go on the treadmill; it's virtually empty in the evenings so we get most of the gym to ourselves, heh. Do you work out at all?"

"O-Oh... no, it's not really my forte, as such." Joey laughed awkwardly, "I guess I poured all of my time into stuff like IT and a bit of science and history... but I like hiking a lot. It's a shame there's nowhere here to do that, considering we're on a manmade island in the sky."

"Well, it's not a bad thing to choose brains over brawn. Especially if you want to make it big in Japan," Darren laughed. He pulled out a pack of mints and offered one out to Joey before taking one for himself, "It's different elsewhere, though. They're crying out for people like builders, farm workers and army recruits, especially in America. I was thinking of enlisting, once..."

"Really?" Joey asked, sucking on his mint, "You got the itch to go out and serve your country, then?"

"I'm an 'army brat', you could say, so I guess it's had a huge impact on my life. I'm used to having to move from place to place, since my dad was enlisted." Darren replied. He leaned against the pillar they were standing up against, staring off down the tracks,  
>"Before I was given a position as Marina's bodyguard, I'd not really had much... direction in my life, I guess. So I was really tempted to go and sign up for the army recruits here, but considering how the war going on in Europe is still leaving a bitter taste in people's mouths, I ended up talking myself out of it. I don't know how I could take care of Elfinmon either; I doubt he'd be very happy having to spend virtually every waking moment in the D-Drive."<p>

"Nuh-uh! I'd get out every chance I get!" Elfinmon called out in a muffled voice from inside Darren's coat pocket.

"I was wondering when that annoying green booger was going to create some noise..." Manimon snarked to himself out loud from his own pocket-prison. "Peace never lasts long around here these days... damn _boogers_. And where the heck is the damn train?! I wanna go home and rock out to Marina's CD!"

Joey and Darren both looked up at the time table, their conversation disrupted due to Manimon reminding them of the train even _being a thing_. The train should have arrived right now... and just as they suspected, a voice of the intercom announced that all the trains would be running late that evening.

"_Figures_. I guess the power failure is pulling out all the stops on disrupting everything." Darren sighed, before turning to Joey, "Hey, since there's gonna be trouble, we may as well get the bus. Do you wanna get a drink before we head off home?"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt..." Joey mused. With Darren there, it could be an evening spent drinking in good company rather than brooding and over-drinking like he'd originally feared he'd do had he accepted Manimon's initial suggestion. Due to being hidden away inside of his pocket, he missed Manimon's big cheesy grin of victory.

"That's settled, then, heh. The girls got to spend the day together, so we should hang out and have a laugh, too." Darren grinned. Joey had otherwise completely forgotten that Amy was over at Marina's today, thanks to thoughts of Rin and his grandfather overshadowing his immediate friends. "Err... that's if we can find any that haven't had their power knocked out."

The two guys headed off out of the station, and made the trek towards the nearest shopping area. There were a few bars, but most seemed like they were experiencing difficulties due to the power cuts, and many of the stores had either closed up early, or when in the process of doing so.

"There's one near here that's really old-fashioned. They use vintage lamps and candles, it's kind of steampunk themed." Darren explained, "Me, Marina and a couple of our other friends went dressed up in steampunk attire for her birthday last year. They've got an extensive list of drinks, too. As long as you don't mind steampunk, that is, heheh."

"Hmm, might be a nice idea to take Amy here for her birthday... she's into making costumes, too. I remember back in England, she was helping make costumes for a school play, when she was younger." Joey remembered the good old days with a fond smile, "The play turned out well, and I never saw her looking so proud of herself before then... She even made me a suit for a fancy dress party a few years back."

Both of them reminisced about their favorite moments with friends on the way, and in turn, Joey found himself getting more relaxed around Darren. After all the stress and worry, it was refreshing to finally be unwinding with good stories with a friend.  
>And all the talks of parties had him truly missing going out and having a good time, or just finding something worth celebrating.<p>

On the way to the bar, they took a shortcut through a back-alley behind various shops. The pair fell into an uneasy silence, when they noticed Elfinmon and Manimon on the alert; the D-Drive's vibrations had caught their attention quite suddenly.

"Something up, fellas?" Darren asked, quietly. "Or do you just feel left out and wanted some attention?"

"Oh haha, _shut up!_" Manimon groaned, rolling his eyes. "Far be it for me to disturb you two love-birds from your 'date', but me an' the Booger think there's a digimon nearby..."

Darren and Joey gave each other a cautious glance as they realized their partners as quietly as they could, hoping the flash of light and data particles didn't draw attention. Nearby, there was the sound of something falling over with a loud clatter.

Making their way towards the direction of the sound, they turned and peered down another alley back at a small 4-way split behind multiple stores and looked around. Joey was the first one to spot the problem. The signs of a break-in were clear.

Something had chewed it's way through a few wires to disarm the security alarm, in the event the power came back on. They seemed like they'd been using the blackout as an opportunity to break in.

"What purpose does a digimon have, breaking into a clothing store?" Darren muttered, when they caught the store logo on their approach. It was an otherwise expensive high-end designer store, a typical store to be found in this part of Neo Tokyo.

"Maybe he thinks he's people!" Elfinmon replied quietly, grinning in an innocent, cat-like way. "I wish I was people, too! Then I could wear platform boots and be as tall as Deni-den!"

"Reason number two of why I need to _kick your ass_." Manimon muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes. Elfinmon's saccharine childishness was on the verge of giving him ulcers.

All four guys approached the door, which had been broken open. A gaping hole from multiple slash marks was in the enter, and the entire thing was hanging off of one hinge, swaying slightly as if on the verge of giving way. Cautiously, the four of them approached, with the digimon heading off in front.

Manimon gave an apprehensive glance around from the doorway, before gesturing with his paw that the human pair should get down and keep low to remain fairly hidden. Whatever was inside hopefully hadn't sensed their arrival yet.

The inside of the store was almost pitch-black, making it extremely difficult to see. Each mannekin looming in the dark unnerved them, and several times some movement in their peripheral vision caught their attention but turned out to be nothing.

"Just a mirror." Joey whispered as quietly as he could. Their reflections almost seemed as though they did not belong to them, in this dark, quiet store, where there was still something else yet lurking unseen.

Darren was the first to discover something, when he'd almost tripped over a pile of clothing pulled from their racks, as if whoever was here had been sifting through in a hurry. Keeping low, they hid themselves behind a rotating carousel rack, letting Manimon and Elfinmon go further ahead.

"You two go further ahead... we're going to go back and try to prevent them from escaping out the way they came in." Joey whispered. For all they knew, the thieving digimon could easily sneak past them and get out if they stuck together in one small group like this.

"Will you be okay, Joe?" Manimon asked quietly. He didn't like the idea of leaving the guys alone.

"We'll hold the door back in place... well, with what's left of it, anyway. I don't think it'll hold much more, but it might buy some time to prevent an immediate escape." Darren replied in a low voice. After getting Manimon's approval, the pair head off back. Elfinmon was too childlike to really get what was going on, but would obediently follow the plan regardless.

Whoever was there with them had knocked a few stands over, which had been the source of the clattering. Some seemed as though they'd been caught in a domino effect, and clothes were strewn everywhere haphazardly. Manimon's ears twitched as he picked up on faint noise, the soft rustle of fabric.

Peering around a shoe and bag display, Manimon realized they were entering the kid's section. He could barely make out a figure sat on it's haunches inspecting a small child-sized dress, before folding it up carefully and slipping it inside a rucksack, likely one taken from one of the displays.

"Psst... Booger... I'm going to approach from the front. You go around the back and flank him in from behind, got it?" the rabbit muttered into the small green cat-like fox's large ear. He had one arm around Elfinmon's shoulders, trying to keep him focused, "Don't let me down, Bogey, or I'll kick your ass!"

"I won't do it if you keep calling me names, horny-bunny!" Elfinmon replied, before Manimon smacked his paw across his mouth. "Mmmh!"

The sitting figure sat up straight, his two pointed ears standing on end. Manimon and Elfinmon held their breaths in tense anticipation, watching the stranger like a hawk. After an incredibly uneasy moment passed, where the stranger seemed to scan the area around him in suspicion, he finally turned back to what he was doing.

Manimon exhaled as quietly as he could in relief, before patting Elfinmon's back in encouragement. After seeing the little swamp-beast off, the light rabbit began his approach, in the most undignified belly-dragging crawl possible. He hoped this humiliating tactic would be worth it, if it kept him stealthy.  
>He was just crawling down the aisle towards the sitting figure, when the figure suddenly... wasn't sitting. All of a sudden, the being was on it's feet, hoisting the bag onto it's back. It peered down the aisle at the direction Elfinmon was due, before turning and facing Manimon. Was it <em>smirking<em> at him?!

Before Manimon even had a chance to get up, the figure ran right over him, springing right off the back of the rabbit's head with a kick, which had poor Manimon ending up face planting into the floor hard.

"You son of a -!" Manimon shrieked. Just as he jumped up to give chase, he saw the form of Elfinmon dashing straight for him in the dark.

"Oh no you don't! _Elven Vines_!"

The crystal on Elfinmon's forehead began to glow, but only barely illuminating around his face. Grassy, leafy vines shot from between the rows of neatly displayed clothes hanging up on the racks, wrapping around Manimon so tightly that he let out a loud (and pathetic) croaky wheeze, as more of the vines began to thwack and lash at his face and ears.

"YOU IDIOT! STOP, _STOOOOP!_" Manimon shrieked, thrashing and trying to break free. He only just barely dodged a whip that could have struck him across the eyes, which had him squeal loudly in fright. "Are you trying to kill me?! IT'S ME, IDIOT, MANIMON!"

"Ooooohhh..." Elfinmon sniffed, on realizing his mistake. In an instant, the vines fell slack and dropped limply to the floor. "I thought you were the other guy... sorry, Idiot Manimon."

Manimon smacked Elfinmon upside the head and turned, "Quickly, before you mess everything up again! He's getting away!"

Both digimon began scrambling after their target in a blind dash. The other digimon, despite toting a loaded bag, was otherwise slyly using his environment to his advantage; he flung bags and shoes at the pair, purposefully jumping displays to cut corners, and outright knocking more racks over to slow them down. The barrage of flung items, and the constant obstructions created to slow them down soon had them falling behind too far to keep up properly.

"Don't worry, guys!" Joey's voice could be heard from behind the door, "He won't get past us!"

Darren and Joey were both pushing back against the door as good as they could, hoping the hinge wouldn't betray them. Unfortunately for the human pair, the door did as well as you would expect a door to hold out when attached on a busted hinge, which was to say, not very well at all.

The escaping digimon dealt a flying kick against the door, which caused it fly open, smack Darren in the face, and send Joey flying backwards onto his back. Joey barely had enough time to take in the fleeing digimon in the moonlight, he and Darren's D-Drives simultaneously going off in unison.

_[Raijumon]_  
><em>Level - Rookie<em>  
><em>Attribute - Data<em>  
><em>Type - Beast<em>  
><em>Family - Nature Spirit<br>Attacks - Jagged Slash, Wolf Blitz_

_A lightning digimon that is quick on it's feet with sharp claws that are charged up with electricity. They are solitary digimon that work alone._

"Well, at least it sounds like there's only gonna be one of these guys..." Darren groaned, rubbing his sore face. His eyes were blurry and unfocused where he hadn't quite gotten entirely out of the way. "Thank god... any more of THAT and I would _scream_."

"What the hell was that?! You guys were supposed to be manning the door!" Manimon yelled, dashing out. He was now sporting a lacy lady's bra for a hat, and a mismatched pair of high heels on his big rabbit feet. "You guys _SUCK!_ He's getting away from- OOF!"

Manimon was knocked flat by what appeared to be an upside down faux crocodile-skin handbag with legs, which contained Elfinmon, trapped inside. After tripping over Manimon, Elfin-bag flipped over, and ended up upside down with his little feet flailing uselessly in the air, believing himself to still be running.

The angry rabbit ended up slamming the bag closed on the poor swamp-fox in frustration. "UGH! Now what?!"

"I've scanned him, so we'll just track him. It's not too late to give chase, come on!" Joey called, jumping to his feet. After offering a hand to help Darren up, who was wiping blood from his nose, everyone began rushing off after Raijumon, with Elfinmon still stuck inside the bag which his poor partner was forced to clutch under one arm.

"...Just what _are_ you wearing, anyway?" Joey asked, as Manimon clacked loudly beside him in his newly acquired heels, which in the rush, he'd forgotten to remove.

"Ohhh just _shut up_ and run!" Manimon snapped, his white face glowing red hot in shame. That Raijumon was going to pay for a 'crime' worse than theft.

Nobody turned Manimon into a walking fashion disaster and got away with it!

* * *

><p>At some point, Manimon had been able to shed the garments stuck on him, and Darren had freed poor Elfinmon from his tacky bag prison. They'd also managed to keep up fairly well with Raijumon, for the most part. Had he not been toting a bag on his back, they may never have kept up at all.<p>

Every time they rounded a corner, they could barely just catch him trying to lose them, unaware that they could clearly see him up on their D-Drives. At some point, he must have twigged on, because his evasive movements became less and less, often remaining running in plain sight of them.

"What's going on? Where is he even going? He must know it's pointless trying to escape... we can track him as long as he remains within reach of the D-Drive's signal..." Joey panted, as they exited one alley and entered another, his glasses fogged up from the heat from his face clashing with the chilly air.

"I don't know, but he seems desperate to get away. Look, he's daring enough to chance the traffic!" Darren yelled, pointing on ahead at the street right at the end of the alley.

Raijumon dashed out, deftly jumping from one car to the roof of another, cutting across in the most risky stunt they'd ever seen, but it worked. He'd managed to broaden the gap between them and him, and thanks to the loud screech of cars braking, caused a crash.

People shrieked and ran to avoid the second car he'd leapt from to smash into a lamp post in the driver's panic, and everything went to hell in the chaos.

"Dammit!" Darren yelled, "Quick, we'd better put the digimon away before someone sees..."

Hurriedly digitizing their digimon back into their D-Drives, both guys were now brought to a near standstill from the crowds of people gathering around the scene of the crash, with others rushing to check on the driver. Thankfully, the driver seemed fine, which was only just barely reassuring to both tamers.

"I'm already getting sick of this guy... we need to catch up before he causes any more accidents." Joey muttered. Tugging Darren away, they were forced to backtrack up a bit, and go down a parallel alley to get past all the crowds and carry on along their way. "He's cutting across a housing estate by the looks of things. Maybe we can cut him off?"

"Yeah, we'll need to try taking this one by surprise. He's too quick and seems to be too tricky to just chase after like this." Darren sighed, "Let's just hope we can get into place before he does."

* * *

><p>Raijumon made his way through a small cul-de-sac road at one end of the housing estate, and began climbing over a chainlink fence. After crossing this with relative ease, he quickly noted a multi-storey car park attached to a tower block. Crossing through this would have him entering onto the home straight.<p>

That's if he could shake off those two idiots chasing him off his trail. He wondered how they were doing it; perhaps the digimon gained some kind of sixth-sense super-tracking skill when placed in those odd devices he'd seen the two holding. He knew about those devices, but had little idea how they worked beyond making digimon evolve.

He could lure them inside the car-park. He wouldn't allow them to chase him any further back to his lair. He _couldn't._

Scaling up a tree standing up against the car-park, he entered onto the second storey. It was empty, with very little cars, unusual for this time of night, but otherwise, not something that concerned him.

As expected, it wasn't long before Darren and Joey appeared. Raijumon stared them down in disapproval, looking on their exhausted state as if mocking them.

"Ah... Hahah... we've got you now!" Darren panted. Fumbling for their D-Drives, both were able to realize their partners out, whom thanks to being stored, were fresh and ready to fight.

"Are you sure about that?" Raijumon asked. Now he was stationary, in the light of the car park, they could finally make him out clearly.

Bright yellow fur, with orange flame-like markings adorning his ears, arms and tail, unusual for an electricity-based digimon. It was also very difficult to place down what kind of animal he resembled most, as he seemed to have traits of wolf, weasel, and monkey.

His sharp purple eyes had such a wild look to them, but also held a kind of stern, disciplined quality. For Darren, it gave him the impression as though he were looking at a 'military' man. His father had held a similar look after all his training in the army had toughened him up.

"Why were you stealing? What could you possibly gain from doing that?" Joey asked. Manimon stood in front of him protectively, still feeling upset over being made a fool of back at the store.

"That's none of your business." Raijumon replied nonchalantly. "If you came looking for a fight, so be it. But I'm not going to put up with your nonsense any longer."

"You caused a traffic accident and broke into a store!" Darren argued, holding his hands wide, "Do you think we'd just let you walk away from that, and let you go on to keep doing this?"

Raijumon shrugged, still staring them down icily, "Firstly, human law doesn't apply to digimon. Secondly, I have concerns of my own that don't cover the stupidity of human drivers."

"Don't worry, Darren, I'll get him!" Elfinmon squeaked. Before Darren could even stop him, the little swamp-fox dashed straight for Raijumon. "_Elven Vines!_"

Elfinmon's small wings transformed into thick, long-reaching vines, which he lassoed out towards Raijumon. The vines entangled and entwined around the thunder-beast's sharp, purple claws, in a bid to restrain him.

"I got him, Darren, I did it! I-"

Before Elfinmon could even finish his sentence, Raijumon's claws began to glow a hot blue-white. Sparks of electricity crackled and crawled up and down his glistening fur as a powerful burst of electricity shot straight down the vines and absolutely fried poor Elfinmon, until he was left spasming and smoking on the ground, writhing in pain.

"Not the smartest move you've made tonight. But then again, I've yet to have seen any semblance of intelligence from you." Raijumon commented drily. He brushed the rapidly shrivelling vines off of himself, turning his gaze from Elfinmon's twitching, burnt form to meet Manimon's. "Well?"

"Damn you! Only I get to hurt the green booger!" Manimon yelled, "And shut your damn, condescending stuck-up mouth, weasel-face, or I'll be only too happy to shut it for you!"

"You're welcome to try, rabbit. If you think you're _good_ enough." Raijumon retorted. He nimbly side-stepped as Manimon came rushing at him, swinging his arms madly in an attempt to punch the much taller rookie.

"Are you making fun of me-" Manimon snapped, barely having time to look over his shoulder at the sleek yellow thunder-beast. He failed to see Raijumon's claws coming. With one hand folded behind his back casually, all Raijumon did was poke the very tip of Manimon's tail, but the shock of all the electricity whirring around his claws jumping and tearing through Manimon through his tail had him scream out in painful surprise, "-EEEEEEEE!?"

"Is this really the best you can do?" Raijumon growled. He looked annoyed, despite still keeping his voice calm. "After chasing me relentlessly all this way, I expected _better._"

"Damn it..." Joey cursed under his breath. He fidgeted uncomfortably from behind a pillar he and Darren were sticking behind for safety, "He's making fools of us... and the ceiling is far too low for them to be able to digivolve..."

"You didn't think I'd let you do that, did you?" Raijumon smirked, staring over at them with that infuriatingly smug expression on his face, "That's hardly a fair fight. But that's humans for you. They're not _fair_ to begin with."

"Shut up!" Joey hissed. He was so angry and worked up, and fast losing his patience. He likely would have lost his temper had Darren not grabbed his arm.

"Don't. That's what he _wants_." he muttered, his eyes fixed on Raijumon. "He's smart, sure, but there's still two of us and only one of him. He's taking advantage of Manimon and Elfinmon's impatience..."

"Manimon, stop being so rash, and work _with_ Elfinmon!" Joey called, anxiously. Elfinmon had begun to recover, and was shakily getting to his feet. "Darren... how much longer can Elfinmon last?"

"He's a tough little cookie... he'll be fine. Maybe maturity isn't his strong point, but endurance is." Darren replied quietly, "He'll be okay. I think..."

Manimon and Elfinmon were both keeping their distance, watching Raijumon cautiously. Their golden-furred foe made no move from his spot, simply regarding them with that same look of disapproval and lack of respect as before.

"Have you got any attacks that won't have him frying you senseless?" Manimon whispered. For once in his life, Elfinmon was actually concentrating intently, where the shock had definitely jolted some sense into him. "We can't fight him head-on like this... he's too fast, and we don't have much in the way of long-ranged attacks..."

"Would Dazzle work?" Elfinmon asked his comrade quietly, looking up at the rabbit inquisitively.

"No... not when we're already in a fairly lit environment..." Manimon commented, "Besides, what if it backfires and blinds you instead?"

Elfinmon's eyes suddenly lit up with an idea. Placing one paw in front of his mouth slightly, Manimon tilted his ear for him to whisper his plan into the white rabbit's large ear.

"...Wow, Bogey. You might be smarter than I give you credit for!" Manimon grinned, "Alright, get ready!"

Raijumon could sense the pair had been scheming and seemed to tense up in anticipation. He hadn't heard a word they'd been muttering to themselves about, but he could sense they'd wised up enough to pose something of a threat, finally.

"SWAMP MIST!" Elfinmon yelled. Taking a deep breath until his little fluffy cheeks puffed up big and round, he exhaled, breathing out a thick, green mist, which began to fill up the entire car park. Aside from himself, nobody else could see.  
>"Do it!" Manimon cried, coughing slightly on the thickness of the gaseous green substance. Elfinmon began to lash and whip his vines against Raijumon, who was unable to see the attack even coming.<p>

Grunting in pain, Raijumon was forced back by the strikes from the vines. Every attempt to parry the blows only met with half success. Manimon was circling around near to the opened-air parts of the car park, where the mist was already dissolving and thinning out into the night air. Finally, Elfinmon was backing Raijumon back out just enough for Manimon to make him out.

Running forward, Manimon launched himself at Raijumon from behind, the rabbit digimon kicked off with his big feet like a missile.

"_MOON FIRE_!"

Raijumon had only just managed to fight off the last of the lashing vines when he'd heard Manimon's cry. Only just barely turning, he was suddenly engulfed in the rapidly appearing bright, white fire erupting from Manimon's horn. Snarling in pain, the fire burnt away at the right side of his face and shoulder, where he'd been struck.

"How'd you like that, you jumped-up bastard?!" Manimon grinned, hopping from one foot to the other in excitement. "You spoke too soon, calling us stupid!"

"Manimon, you've almost got him, come on!" Joey yelled, from where he and Darren began rushing out from behind the pillar.

Sensing that he was being closed in on, Raijumon's mind whirred into action, quickly formulating an escape. He'd been wrong to overestimate these digimon, and fallen thanks to his own pride. But there was no time to sit and lick his wounds in shame; he had to get out of here, and fast.

"_Wolf Blitz!_"

Raijumon's entire body was suddenly wrapped in electricity, so bright and intense it made him look much bigger than he was. This electrical coating formed itself into a giant, snarling wolf with a long, whip-like tail, and in a burst of light, he shot forward like a bolt of lightning, straight past the human pair. So fast was this movement, that it almost seemed as if he'd _blinked_ past them.

"What?!" Joey's voice sounded. His ears rang from the roaring 'boom' he'd heard and felt as Raijumon had flew past. "How did he get behind us so quickly?"

They could only barely see Raijumon fleeing. He'd seemingly become electricity, and was using the telephone wires to shoot off in his escape. A small trail of blood from the whip wounds was all that remained in his wake.

"He seemed desperate to escape." Darren commented. He patted Elfinmon in a congratulatory way, before the little swamp-fox clambered up him to lay across the back of his shoulders. "He must be reaching his limits. His arms looked in pretty bad shape from trying to block the vines, and the fire attack Manimon pulled off must be really smarting right now."

"Let's finish this, then." Joey commented. "There's no doubt, if he has a lair, that's the place he'll head to now. He can't do much else with those wounds."

Steeling themselves for one last trek, all of them set off. Thankfully, Raijumon was still present on the radar screen... and his icon was now slowing to a crawl.

By time they had gotten out of the car park, the icon had stopped moving entirely.

* * *

><p>Raijumon could barely stand by time he'd reached the dilapidated, abandoned old building that had once been a post office.<p>

It was an old structure that wouldn't sell any more. It was one of many that had once been scheduled to have been knocked down, but due to rumours of the area that these abandoned, empty, half-decaying buildings were haunted, this plan had been given up.

His _Wolf Blitz_ ability had allowed him to, for three years now, scare off any people trying to snoop around near his home. Many urban legends for the local teenagers and urban explorers thought that he was some kind of ghost-animal guarding over the dead, and it wasn't too far from the truth. After all, many people had died in this area.

The only major building nearby was through the woods bordering this small ghost-town area, and it was the power plant providing electricity to most of Neo Tokyo. Normally, it stood fully-lit, visible from the elevated ground it sat on. But it was dark up there, tonight. Not that it mattered to Raijumon, as his home did not use electricity via normal means.

Using all that energy to escape had left him drained, but at the least, he was home. There were tall fences placed around the buildings here, trying to bar off entry, but no fence could ever stop him. He could easily scale the concrete walls around the back where, in the past, the post vans would have gone to pick up or drop off parcels and letters.

Finally, he was inside. He came through the kitchen which would have formerly been used as a break room for the postal workers, and entered back towards the staff room near the stairs that led up to the offices on the first floor. After using a lighter to light up a few candles, he dropped his bag off by a weathered old couch left behind, and inspected his wounds.

He was hurting all over immensely from being caught off guard. Both from the physical pain, and his pride. His arms, which he'd been using to shield his face from Elfinmon's attack were covered in bloodied cuts from the whip lashes, and he looked an absolute mess, from both these and the singed fur on the right side of his face.

Quietly, he went back out to the kitchen and found a bucket, and a big bottle of water he'd stolen a previous night. The shelves were stocked with things like rice and other foods that could last a long time. Night time was not the only time he was out stealing for survival, many times required multiple trips and sometimes he had risked going out during the day just to make sure he was stocked up.

The bucket was now full of water. He bit his lip, sadly. Such a waste. But he would need to clean himself up incase any more attacks happened in future.

Hauling it back to the other room, he sat in silence and began washing himself clean. Once the bleeding had stopped and he'd dried himself off, he saw to getting everything he'd taken tonight out of his bag.

Two good, new little dresses were lined up on the couch, along side an ensemble fit for the coldness that had persisted even after all the snow and ice had melted, and a small pair of shiny new shoes. The last thing he'd brought back had been a teddy bear. Despite his rough, cold exterior, he managed a little smile on managing to bring back something nice that night.

He heard a faint click at the door and looked up. Meek, blue eyes peered at him inquisitively from the crack, small fingers holding the door ajar.

"Daddy?" came the shy little voice of the girl at the door. She couldn't seem to hold back, and pushed through, running over to him, flinging her arms around his neck tightly. "I missed you so much, Daddy!"

Despite his exhaustion and pain, just being hugged by her seemed to soothe him. He placed one of his arms carefully around her, holding her in against him, kissing her forehead softly.

"I missed you too, sweetheart." he replied, his voice soft and warm. "I picked up some stuff for you... you're gonna look like a little princess, angel."

Sitting her in his lap, he showed her the dresses he'd stolen earlier, and she stared, awestruck, running her hands over the soft fabric. "These are for me...?"

"Yeah. Can't have my little girl being cold." he smiled over her precious little face beaming up at him. But as she noticed his arms, her face fell, the pained expression on her making his heart sink. "Monica..."

She bit her lip, staring up from the wounds to his face. Her voice wavered with worry, and just hearing her holding back on sobbing felt a knife through his heart. "You're hurt.."

"No, darlin'... Daddy's fine." he gave her a reassuring grin, and ruffled her hair. He wished so badly he hadn't underestimated his opponents, because now, there were tears in her eyes, and he felt responsible. "Shh, angel... c'mon now, don't you cry..."

Holding her in his arms, she let out a faint sob, clinging tightly to his chest, as he gently cradled her. More than the pain the battle had caused, seeing his little girl upset was the worst pain of all.  
>Before he had time to comfort her, he heard the loud creak of the gates outside.<p>

"Monica... go upstairs. Now!" He was on his feet in an instant, rushing to the door, carrying her in his arms. Setting her down on the ground out in the corridor, he gently nudged her back, urging her on. "Hurry!"

Monica hesitated, staring back, teary-eyed. "But... what about you...?"

"You know the drill, sweetheart... when there's people snooping around, you hide whilst your daddy goes an' sorts 'em out."

* * *

><p>"He's in here, somewhere." Joey murmured, "Who knows what he's got inside?"<p>

Elfinmon had used his vines to widen a large gap between the bars of the iron fencing blocking entry into the loading bay, and now all four were in, making their way across the cracked, uneven ground, towards the building.

"You won't get far enough to find out."

Raijumon stood across from them, his arms folded across his chest, glaring them down. The intensity of the look in his eyes showed that he'd had enough.

"If this is your 'lair', then there's nowhere else for you to run, no?" Darren mused, his hand slowly slipping into his pocket, thumbing the edge of his D-Drive. "So how about we finish this? You can't expect us to just leave after coming all this way. After all, you broke into a store, vandalized it, stole from it, and you could have got someone killed. That person was lucky this time, but the next person may not be."

"And out here, there ain't nothing to stop us from digivolving!" Manimon quipped, flexing his paws, "Unless you're planning to go cower inside this dump you call a lair!"

"I'm touched that you find me so threatening that you feel the need to digivolve to take me on." Raijumon sneered, flexing his claws in readiness, "But I think you'll find there is a way I can stop you from digivolving... and that's takin' out the catalysts!"

His lightning speed soon turned the situation around on itself, as he crossed the yard faster than the others could react. In a flash, he'd knocked Darren flat onto his backside, and gotten behind him. Darren found his arms pinned behind his back by one of Raijumon's strong hands, with the other pressing his sharp claws to his throat. He could feel sweat trickling down the side of his face, barely registering what had happened.

"DARREN!" Elfinmon cried. His eyes went wide with terror, his whole body rigid and tense in alarm at seeing his beloved partner in such a vulnerable state. "L-Let him go!"

"Move even a step closer to the door, and I'll slit his throat." Raijumon growled, his voice low and full of ire. "What's it gonna be? Either you leave clear of this place, or I take his life. Take your pick."

"Manimon, Elfinmon..." Joey urged, doing his best to keep calm. Darren looked extremely nervous and uncomfortable, "Let's do as he says... we'd better-"

Just as Joey herded himself and the two digimon away from the door, he caught sight of a small girl, no older than 6, dash past him from out of the building; it seemed to catch everyone, even Raijumon, by surprise.

"Daddy, don't do it, let him go!"

Monica came sliding over into him, tugging gently on his mane. She was scared, but understood enough what was going on here. Tearfully, she stared up at him, whimpering pleadingly, "Please, Daddy, don't hurt him... please..."

There was an awkward, silent tension fall over the entire scene, with the only sounds being Darren's nervous breathing, and the sniffling from the girl.

Eventually, Darren felt the grip on him loosen, however hesitantly, and finally he was released. Joey rushed over to help him to his feet, as he rubbed his neck where Raijumon's claws had been steadily digging into him, "I thought I was a goner there..."

"This... is why you stole that stuff?" Joey asked, looking from Raijumon to Monica. "I don't understand..."

"It looks like you've got a lot of explaining to do, fella." Manimon snapped, placing his hands on his hips. "So, out with it. We're not leaving til we know what's going on!"

* * *

><p>"She's... your daughter?"<p>

Everyone was sat around the small coffee table in the old staff room. Joey had asked the question that both confused and intrigued them all, as they watched Monica helping to bandage up the wounds on Raijumon's arms.

"Yeah. I've been there for her since before she was born." Raijumon replied. He hadn't looked at any of them since begrudgingly inviting them inside, an action he had initially been against. He instead focused his gaze only on Monica, watching her patch him up, "I'm the only family she has left, at least that I know of."

"What happened? To her... real family, I mean..." Joey asked. He felt tense, seeing Raijumon's lip curl into a snarl; he obviously seemed to take some offense to that.

"Are you saying I'm not real family to her?!" he snapped, finally fixing a fiery stare at the blonde, who shrank back in his seat anxiously.

"Daddy..." Monica pleaded softly, peering up at him with her sad, innocent eyes. The beast digimon softened, and regained his composure.

"I don't know what happened to her real father. Hannah... Monica's mother... told me he'd left shortly after finding out she was pregnant." He grimaced, the thought leaving a sour taste in his mouth. "All I've got is a photo of him. I hate it, but in the event... Monica ever wanted to find him... at least I've got something to go by."

There was a short pause. Monica finished up bandaging on one arm and moved onto the next. She seemed eerily calm, as Raijumon was talking about this. Her expression was so distant, as though she were wearing a mask, hiding behind it. The sight, on such a little girl, made Joey and Darren feel both upset and distraught.

"But Hannah... died, three years back. The story surrounding that is one I'm not ready to share, yet... But I've given Monica all the love Hannah wasn't here to give, on top of my own..." He let out a tired sigh, leaning back slightly on his haunches, "It don't matter to me that we're a different species... we're still family. I'm her daddy, and she's my little girl. She always will be. I don't go out looking to get people hurt, or break into places for the fun of it... but our survival is my priority. I do everything that I do to make her happy, and take care of her."

Joey wondered if the story, about a 'sudden unexplained quake' that had killed many people, had anything to do with this, as despite being such a terrible and tragic event, it had been almost suspiciously under-reported, but he didn't have the heart to press any further on a subject that was clearly very personal.

"But this lifestyle... don't you think she deserves better?" Darren asked, suddenly, gesturing around the decaying room, "This environment isn't right for a child... you can't survive like this. She needs a more secure home... to be around other humans..."

Raijumon flared up in anger again, his fur letting off a spark of electricity in frustration.

"What are you trying to say? Are you saying I'm not _capable_?! We've survived this long, and we'll keep going!" His voice was a wild, beast-like snarl, his claws raking the ground in rage, "If others find her, they'll try to kill me, and put her in care with a family that won't love her or understand her, not as much as I do! She _needs_ me!"

"What she _needs_ is a home. A _real_ one." He argued back, getting to his feet, "If you care about her at all, you'd do this for her."

"Don't you _dare_ tell me what to do with my kid, you interfering little ass!" Raijumon spat, his fur bristling intimidatingly, "You don't know a damn. I'm perfectly capable of caring for her by myself!"

"Oh, _what_, or are you frightened she'll be happier with a human family and you're scared you'll _lose_ her or be _replaced_? Because that's _exactly_ what it looks like!" Darren snapped, clenching his fists angrilly.

"Stop fighting, for God's sake!" Joey cried, hurriedly getting between the two before things turned nasty again, "Look, he gets the point... this isn't a good place to raise a child, but at the same time, you can't expect him to just give her up, Darren... because he's right. They'll place her into care when she hasn't had time to adjust to being around other people, and there's no way he'll even be able to see her again. If they find out about him, the Agents will come and dispose of him..."

Both of the hot-headed men glared each other out, taking deep breaths. Darren was the first to break eye contact, and back off, looking bitter and displeased. Raijumon growled in a gruff voice, and sat back down sorely.

"Listen, though, Raijumon... at the least, let me try to reach a middle ground." Joey sighed, turning to face him, "Whilst I don't agree that what I think you're doing is the right thing... I'm not going to force you to come away, if you don't want to. But my door is open for you, if you'll forgive us enough to accept. A roof for you and Monica, clean beds, a bath, hot food... anything you need. And I won't dictate to how you care for her. Your daughter. Okay?"

"Humph..." Raijumon grunted, too proud, or perhaps, too scared and distrustful to outwardly to accept it. "Thanks... but no thanks."

"Very well. But the offer still stands." Joey sighed. He fetched into his pocket and wrote down his address and number on a scrap of paper left on the coffee table, "But if you change your mind, here's my address and D-Drive's number. If you've got one, I presume, you can call me on it... if you ever need to."

"I'll be putting Monica to bed now." Raijumon stated dismissively. "You know the way out."

"Goodbye, Raijumon. And you too, Monica." picking up the teddy bear from the couch, Joey carefully held it out for Monica. Hesitantly, she shyly accepted it, and partially hid her face behind it, clutching onto it tightly.

"Well, guys, looks like we're off home." Joey conceded and reluctantly rejoined the others.

As they left the grounds, Raijumon watched them leave from the door. Heading back in, he wanted to rip the scrap of paper with the address up, but ultimately decided against it. He'd learned, even just a little, some humility that day.

And he wasn't sure what the future held for he and Monica. That scrap of paper could be their lifeline.

* * *

><p>It was close to midnight up at the plant.<p>

A lone security guard swept his flashlight across the empty room, the vastness of the work area, and the almost choking darkness seeming to swallow up most of the light.

There were other guards elsewhere, taking the same shift. Every single one of them was on high alert after the break-in, and he was stationed right at the site the most damage had taken on.

Stepping around carefully in the darkness, he wound up tripping over an industrial cable his flashlight had failed to illuminate. Grumbling, he went to stand, but found himself freezing up in terror.

The thick 'industrial cable' was moving, brushing against his leg with a texture that felt like scales. Before he even had a chance to scream, a pair of glowing eyes appeared just in fiew of his light, before whatever it was that had been hiding from him lunged for his throat.

With an agonized gurgle, the security guard breathed his last. Now his whole world was rapidly fading to a blackness far darker and colder than this building contained.


	13. Papa Wolf

Gloria took a deep puff from her cigarette, exhaling wispy, thin strands of smoke that coiled up through the air around her. She knew it wouldn't be long until the exact thing she'd feared would happen.

Takeshi, the graduate who had been working under her at the power plant sat beside her, shivering. He hadn't been the same since the body had been discovered, and he seemed fit to burst, either to scream out loud, vomit, or ask the torrent of questions buzzing around his head. Gloria could tell that he was on the verge of doing the latter.

"It's best if you don't ask." Gloria sighed, tapping her cigarette against the side of the ash tray, and watching as the ashes from the burning end crumbled off into the tray, as though everything around her was crumbling with it.

"But... w-why? There were... puncture marks... a-and his head was crushed..." Takeshi stammered, before Gloria shot him an icy glare.

"Keep your voice down. Remember where you are." She snapped under her breath. Both were sat at a cramped bar in the next town over, an hour from the power plant.

"B-But why the secrecy?" Takeshi whispered, glancing at her from the side, "Someone was killed... what's with the order of silence? What's going on?"

"It's against the law to speak of it, or even acknowledge it's existence. That's why nobody is talking about it." Gloria sighed, reaching for her beer. Oh, how she needed this drink. "Unless you want to be taken in by the police, you'd do well to just forget any of it happened, and let the appropriate group do their work."

"Arch Angel? Aren't they a software and hardware development company? Why are they in on this? And the government, too?" her colleague asked, gripping his own glass tight in his hands from nerves.

Gloria downed her pint and stood up. "I already told you, it's classified, and talking about it publically will get you locked up. But I'll tell you this, the government has silenced the media and even the internet. Just carry on like nothing even happened."

And Takeshi watched Gloria leave, and carry on for home like nothing had happened, despite the anxious, nauseated feeling of fear bubbling away she kept hidden deep inside herself.

* * *

><p>There were only two living beings in existence up in the plant.<p>

After the workers had been sent home and the higher-ups had locked everything up and stationed everything off, with the body removed in secret for autopsy behind the lower-level worker's backs, did the two digimon break in.

"Soon, very soon, we'll be ready." Announced the larger of the two, the champion-level Teslamon. He was a gigantic white cobra, his hood patterned with jagged, pale blue lightning marks, and a thick, silver 'halo' floating just above his head, like a crown for royalty. "Though weak, I can feel the beginnings of a rift forming."

The smaller digimon, a rookie, sat twiddling his claws anxiously. He had long, red ears and a fan-like tail spread out behind him, adorned all over with purple marks; an Elecmon.

"Was killing that human necessary...?" the smaller digimon asked, his near-constant half-lidded and sad-looking eyes showing a great deal of remorse.

"Wow, of all the things you could prioritize on, you choose to focus on the death of one lowly human than looking at the bigger picture! Of course he had to die, you idiot. How else could we clear this place out quick enough to gain access to the area the rift is forming at?" the big snake snapped.

He had little patience for whining or pity-parades, and hurriedly got Elecmon put to work, "We're on the threshold, here. On the verge of gaining our ticket home, and I don't need to here you piss and moan about over the welfare of damn humans! I'll need time to build up enough power to force open the rift, so until then, go on patrol, and find some food whilst you're at it! Your boss is tired and hungry, so don't you dare dawdle!"

And with that, the morose little elecmon was sent out to scavenge and keep watch for trouble, with no help from the snake digimon, who went back to gloating his success and own cunning.

* * *

><p>Elecmon picked his way miserably through the streets. Despite Teslamon's insistence that home was in sight, it felt even further away than before. Nothing good could come from the death of that human; Arch Angel would surely be on the case and hunting them down, a thought that made the little rookie shiver.<p>

He felt like he was trapped between a rock and a hard place, with nothing to gain and everything to lose. Even if each day was spent fearing discovery, it had least been more secure that way than now. They had been exposed, in Teslamon's grisly murder, and it was too late to run away.

Elecmon had toyed with fleeing, but to abandon his boss meant he risked being hunted down and killed by Teslamon for mutiny. It was pointless; they'd surely die anyway, when the Agents arrived.

Teslamon was only the 'boss' because he had evolved naturally first, and the two were the only members left of their old team. Why he still clung to any semblance of authority had confused Elecmon. Years ago, they had been in a large and successful clan, the Thunder Clan, and they'd been a group of thugs, robbers and assassins back in the digital world, killing for profit and survival.

They sold their services to the highest bidders, killed off their employer's enemies and in return received land, (which had become very precious in the digital world), underlings to carry out their every whim, and resources with which their survival desperately required in order to continue living in a world steadily being consumed by death.

"Land is plentiful in the human world," Thunderbirmon had remarked. He'd been their former, fearless leader. And he'd been so set in his ways to conquer human turf, he'd been deaf to reason. He had assumed humans were defenceless, and powerless to stop their arrival, and they'd been wrong.

Elecmon could hardly remember what happened after the battle in the very ghost town he now wandered through, as he'd run, hidden and in the ensuing collapse of buildings, been buried and knocked out.

They'd spent three years studying the city, picking the best location to begin their invasion, bulking up and training in preparation. Thunderbirmon had set his sights on the power plant and surrounding area, which now lay in ruins, gutted and decayed. The night they had moved out to attack had changed everything; for the humans, their government and the law, and the Thunder Clan.

Four hours. Three years of toil and preparation had ended in but four hours. Elecmon had seen it coming, but not anticipated the entire events that had unfolded. _Four hours_. Thunderbirmon had been slain, with the rest picked off one by one, until only he and Teslamon, back then a Voltmon, remained.

And now, several years on, they had kept desperately clinging to life. Teslamon had his own grandiose plans, of course. He wanted to go back and make the Thunder Clan anew, regain their lost glory days, and relish being the new leader. He had, at the least, thankfully put any ideas of getting revenge behind him. He valued saving his own skin more than avenging the clan.

Elecmon had just wanted to live quietly in the solitude of the artificial forest they had been refined to, and live off the land and the wastefulness of their human neighbours in peace, but Teslamon had naturally overruled such a 'sissy' option. He was not content with the life of a beggar, and longed to live once more like a lord, and had focused all their efforts towards this day, the moment he had sensed a rift forming thanks to his 'Thunder Halo'.

Elecmon sighed. There was really no point going through the buildings for scraps, as everything had long decayed and rotted to nothing. He only remained in order to avoid going back empty handed and receiving a tongue-lashing or far worse from Teslamon. Teslamon had beaten him black and blue before for not fulfilling a task set for him to completion multiple times in the past.

That's when he caught a distinct scent on the wind; something delicious. Someone was preparing food, in this god forsaken place.

He made off in the direction this heavenly scent was coming from, eager to get to the bottom of this mystery. And what he would find was the last thing he had ever been expecting.

* * *

><p>Raijumon kept an eye on the campfire stew he was cooking up for he and Monica's dinner. He was completely unaware of the storm brewing up at the power plant, and was instead focusing on his dailies.<p>

Monica was inside, sat at the little coffee table in the old staff room, doodling on scrap paper and cardboard with old crayons, comfortably wearing one of her new dresses. Raijumon had hand-washed her old, favorite one in a bowl of soapy water and had currently hung it up to dry on an old clothes horse he'd salvaged long ago from an abandoned building nearby. Most of the useful objects that made daily life somewhat easier were all items stolen or salvaged from elsewhere.

After dinner, Raijumon planned to take up his toolkit and set about fixing a hole in the roof that kept letting water and cold in. He'd been working away at repairs to the old post office over the years to the best of his physical ability, thought it had been hard. And now Monica was old enough, she often helped hold boards in place whilst he hammered at nails, where his claws were not really good with tools.

Just as he took the cooking pot off the hot coals in his own makeshift fire pit dug out in the back of the building, he heard approaching footsteps coming up along the west wall of the old loading bay, and froze up. Stowing the pot off to the side, he buried the already low-burning fire under gravel as quietly as he could, and hid out of sight.

The footsteps were a little heavy-footed, but as he counted them, he realized it was an animal of sorts in sound. He would catch it, and throw it out before it even got near to the building.

Elecmon had barely gotten a foot through the gap in the iron fencing Elfinmon had created previously, when Raijumon was pinning him down against the ground. Elecmon squealed in shock, before both digimon stared at each other, wide-eyed in surprise.

"R-Raijumon?"

"Elecmon...?"

* * *

><p>Raijumon sat across from Elecmon, silently drinking up his stew. If he didn't hate wasting food, he would've likely skipped eating from his sudden lost appetite. Monica sat beside him, spooning at hers quietly and regarding Elecmon with shy curiosity. Each meal was something they came to savour, where meals had to be rationed carefully and spread out, so they tried to make it last.<p>

Elecmon ate his share just as slow, as if this lunch was to be his last. He was aware of Raijumon's steely gaze fixed on his, that piercing glare causing the red digimon's skin to prickle and sweat to bead.

"S-So... R-Raijumon... how've you been, uh... doing, all this time?" Elecmon managed to splutter out, after an awkward silence.

Raijumon said nothing in response, but Elecmon could tell his host was getting more and more aggravated by the second. Every single strand of hair covering Raijumon's back stood on end, which had Elecmon jump slightly.

"I want you out of here the second you finish eating," Raijumon ordered, his claws partially digging at the wooden table-top, "Or things will turn very nasty, very quickly."

"H-Hey now, there's no need for that attitude! W-We're..." Elecmon almost choked swallowing the lump in his throat, fanning his face with one stubby leg, "W-We're friends, right?"

Raijumon slammed both fists down on the table, before leaping the entire length of it to pin Elecmon down on the ground. Monica cried out in shock, and covered her eyes, cowering down behind the side of the sofa.

Smacking Elecmon's head against the ground, Raijumon snarled at the red fan-tailed digimon viciously.

"Friends?! You have the nerve to imply we're even remotely on good terms, after everything that happened?!" He yelled, his tail lashing behind him like a live-wire, loosing off sparks from his fury. "You sleazy little bastard! I took pity on you, because you're pathetic, but it means nothing more!"

"Please stop! Please!" Elecmon begged, snivelling in the bigger digimon's grip, "Let's t-talk about this like re-responsible digimon, please!"

"Nobody wanted to talk like 'responsible digimon' the night I found you idiots again, after you abandoned me!" Raijumon growled, spraying spittle from where he was working himself into a fit of rage, "You sicken me! Hannah died because of you and the damn clan! Monica was left homeless because of you and the clan! And then to spite me, you... you turned your back on me, when I needed you most, you snivelling coward!"

"I-I d-didn't want them to go through with it, p-please believe me! I begged a-and pleaded w-with Thunderbirmon to s-stop, b-but he w-was convinced t-that human had c-corrupted you!" Elecmon squeaked, narrowly avoiding a swipe from Raijumon's claws.

"Corrupted?!" Raijumon roared, gripping Elecmon so hard to prevent him from weaselling away that his sharp claws dug right in to the fan-tailed digimon's pudgy, soft flesh, "Hannah was the greatest thing to ever happen to me, and the entire clan ripped that out of my hands! Our lives were ruined!"

"D-Daddy!" Monica called out, stumbling out from behind the sofa. She had been trying so hard to keep it together, but she begun crying, and was unable to stop. She'd never been so terrified in all her young life, seeing her 'father' behaving no better than a wild animal.

"Don't bother, Monica!" Raijumon yelled over his shoulder at the little girl trying to reach out to him, "You can thank this scumbag for taking your mother from you!"

Monica stopped dead in her tracks, shaking and shivering. For a time, the only sounds in the room were the roughened breathing from Raijumon, who was still worked up, and the soft sobbing coming from Monica.

Her vision blurred, and she dropped to her knees, desperately trying to wipe her eyes off on her sleeve, but the tears wouldn't stop. Raijumon thankfully backed off at this point, and hurried to her side, wrapping his strong arms around her small self tightly, letting her cry into his thick neck mane.

Elecmon sat up, one paw clutched against his chest, where his heart felt like it was beating a mile a minute. The adrenaline from the close encounter with Raijumon's rage wouldn't be leaving too soon, he felt certain.

"Raijumon... please believe me, when I say I am deeply sorry for your loss... I mean it, honestly." Elecmon exclaimed, managing to regain some composure, even if he felt tense as hell inside, "But I h-have something to say..."

"What could you possibly have to say to me, you bastard?" Raijumon growled, tensing up again. The only thing making him show any form of restraint right now was Monica clinging to him weakly, silently bidding him to hold back.

"Please... I know I'm pushing my luck here, but I need a favor..." Elecmon gulped, rubbing his chest anxiously. "This is important... very important..."

"Knowing all the pain that night caused us, and what it took from us... what favor could you even possibly dare to ask us for, Elecmon?" Raijumon glowered, "What right do you even have to ask for help?"

"P-Please, if what's going to happen is going to happen, very bad things could happen if you don't come with me straight away..." Elecmon began, "I know you weren't the closest of friends, but Teslamon has found a new rift forming that could get us to the digital world..."

"Why do you think this even concerns me? I have no interest in crossing wires with that jackass snake, nor am I taking Monica anywhere near a rift, or back to that hellish place." Raijumon replied dryly, stroking the top of his beloved daughter's head to try soothing her.

"T-There's more to it than that! F-First of all, Teslamon and I are not enough to open the rift... we need to begin charging up energy, but if we had you there, when the rift is ready, we'd be through in n-no time..." Elecmon explained, "S-Secondly, Teslamon caused trouble already... he killed a human to drive the workers up at the plant out, so time is precious, and we need to work quickly..."

"No way. I'm not bringing Monica up, nor am I opening some damn rift." Raijumon stated crossly, narrowing his eyes in frustration. "You two got yourselves into this mess, you can damn well get yourselves out of it."

"I-It's not that simple, Raijumon!" the other digimon spluttered, stumbling back slightly from surprise. "That human's death... they've already contacted authorities. And I don't mean the police! It'll reach the Agents eventually, and they'll come right through and massacre us all, yourself included!"

Raijumon could feel all the unease and tenseness building up so deeply inside him it made him nauseous. If Joey and Darren kept track of him the other day and managed to follow him all the way back here, he doubted he could take on the Agents.

"D-Damn it all... you've got us caught up in this bullshit, too..." He groaned. He felt a headache coming on from the stress and aggravation that had all gone on, and rubbed the side of his head with his palm gingerly. Then came the onset of crippling anxiety and worry about Monica and her safety.

"Raijumon... I know I haven't been the best friend to you that I could... no, _should_ have been... but please come with me..." Elecmon begged, his ears hanging low down the flat of his back, "I'll get you and Monica back through another rift to the human world if I have to, and I promise, I swear on my life, I won't allow any harm to come to your child. But it really isn't safe for you here, or her..."

Raijumon sniffed bitterly. There was no choice at all but to leave with them. He had tried going over as many plans as he could, but they were all flawed and full of holes, and there was no way of escaping this that he could see.

He'd even thought of Joey's offer previously, but it was impossible. There was no way of contacting, and he had no idea how far away he and Darren and their digimon were.

"I... I am depending on you to help me keep Monica safe." Raijumon finally replied. Elecmon's ears sprang up straight, standing on end, where it was rare for Raijumon to place any sort of trust in others anymore. "You have one more chance, Elecmon... just don't... let me lose any more people I care about."

"I promise, Raijumon." Elecmon reassured, reaching out to pat Raijumon's claws with his paw, gently, "I will defy even Teslamon to see you both safe."

Just as Raijumon opened the door to get things ready, Elecmon called out to him once more.

"Old friend... I truly am sorry, from the bottom of my heart. I feel I failed you when you needed me most... I hope that this time, I can try to put right even just a few of the wrongs we all made."

Raijumon left in silence. He didn't want Elecmon to see just how misty and wet his eyes had become.

* * *

><p>Some time had passed, and Raijumon was sat upstairs in the room he and Monica had used as a bedroom over the years of living in the abandoned Post Office.<p>

At his feet lay his trusted rucksack, which he always kept close by. It had been invaluable over the years in transporting things back to their 'home', but it was proving difficult choosing what to take with them, as he had not had to live 'on the move' in some time.

The last time he had gone on the move had been during the freak blizzard that had happened not long ago. It had devastated their food supplies, and ruined a number of other things within the decaying structure. It had also been difficult keeping Monica warm... both of them had begun to slowly starve, hiding out in the underground whilst the blizzard had gone on.

Raijumon was so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't heard Elecmon enter until the red fan-tailed digimon spoke up.

"Need any help in here?" Elecmon asked, doing his absolute best to sound chipper, though he knew his companion was going to have a lot weighing on his mind. He took a quick glance around the room that Raijumon and Monica called a bedroom, and swallowed.

An old, rotted mattress on the floor had served as their bed. Springs poked out of the heavily stained, tatty old thing at odd angles. The level of damp in the room meant that the building was usually always wet, and that meant the pair must have been sleeping on a chilly, soaking mattress the whole time.

Layers and layers of sheets Raijumon attempted washing and changing regularly were piled up on top of the mattress, his attempt at providing a less disgusting place for Monica to sleep; it was either that, or the cold, hard flooring. Whatever wallpaper remained has been rotting and peeling off the walls, and a lot of the flooring had been ripped up, likely by Raijumon himself, where the carpet was likely in a constant state of damp and rot like the mattress.

Elecmon bit his lip and gingerly headed over to a clothes horse standing by the bed.

A meager selection of dresses and outfits for Monica were all laid out neatly, as clean as Raijumon could get them.

"It could be a bit cold out, might do best to give her warm clothing." Elecmon commented. He felt tense around Raijumon, where the other was still distrustful and bitter. A growl from his comrade quickly sent shivers up his spine, and had him jumping in fright.

"_I _decide what we take, don't forget that! I won't have someone that knows nothing about my daughter actin' like he knows better than _I do_ on what's best for her!" Raijumon snapped bitterly. The two stood, staring at each other in tense silence, and Elecmon feared Raijumon was going to kick off again.

"I-I wasn't making any implications, I c-can assure you! I... I just understand that... it can't have been easy, raising a kid over the years... especially since humans and digimon are so different, culturally speaking..." Elecmon mused quietly, "Such things don't happen back home... it must have been hard, taking on such a burden, alone..."

"Monica is not a burden." Raijumon replied with a snort of indignation, "Fatherhood is... a challenge, sometimes... but it felt easy... it felt natural. I love her like any father loves their kid. I provide for her at the best of my abilities... I give her all the love that Hannah can't, on top of my own."

"But it's clear as day it's not been an easy road to travel, has it?" Elecmon observed, bowing his head slightly, "Especially on top of the grief you must have felt, losing Hannah..."

"Nothing can compare to the pain I felt, that night. Those wounds still aren't closed, and they won't be, until Monica is truly safe and living a more full life..." Raijumon commented airily, "Why are you even talking with me about this? I don't want to go into it anymore. It's depressing."

"You've been carrying that pain and misery on your shoulders for so long, Raijumon. You've been so strong to hold it as long as you have... but you've become so much more closed off." Elecmon commented, "I don't think you've had any support, or a shoulder to cry on in some time.. I just wanted you to know that I am here for you, if you will accept me."

"H-Hmph..." Raijumon snorted, "The very idea of needin' your support at all makes me laugh... but if it makes you feel better, fine, I'll accept it..."

Elecmon had the ghost of a smile on his face seeing Raijumon begrudgingly take the warmer clothes he had previously accepted, fold them up carefully, and place them into the bag.

The small red digimon watched his aloof companion continue packing things up, including the teddy bear he'd not long brought Monica, a raincoat, and rolled up the ratty old blanket, which the weasel-wolf-like digimon fastened over the top of the rucksack.

The last item Raijumon gathered, which he was just about to tuck away into a pocket on the side of the rucksack, caught Elecmon's attention.

"W-Wait! W-What's that?" Elecmon cried, hopping excitedly from one side to the other.

Raijumon flinched briefly, before holding the D-Drive up for Elecmon to see. A white and yellow strap held down, with a tiny charm resembling Raijumon's head attached to it.

"Wow! You have a digivice! With one of these, you could easily digivolve, and we'd have the rift open in no time!" Elecmon beamed, completely awestruck. His entire face was lit up in an expression of such joy and hope that it almost pained Raijumon to have to deliver the painful truth.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but it doesn't work anymore... it hasn't since Hannah died." He tucked the deactivated d-drive into the side-pocket on the bag, watching as Elecmon's expression steadily changed from one to wonder to one of utter disappointment.

"Did you ever digivolve using it?" Elecmon asked, still very interested in the D-Drive it seemed. Raijumon was getting ever so slightly annoyed with the questions, but did his best to keep from getting too irked.

"No. I never got the chance... Hannah was both lucky there was never a need for it, and unlucky, that she died before we even really had a chance to... to..." Raijumon faltered, glancing away.

"I can tell you really loved Hannah." Elecmon commented, patting his arm, "You were almost like her, how do you say... husband?"

"W-What?" Raijumon sputtered, for once completely knocked off guard, "D-Don't be stupid! I d-didn't love Hannah like that! B-Besides, it's wrong for humans and digimon t-to..."

"Hahaha, Raijumon, are you blushing, friend?" Elecmon grinned, pointing a claw up at his colleague's face, "But it makes a change to see an expression like that when you're normally quite gruff and abrupt. I'm sure Hannah loved you very much, too."

Raijumon brushed past Elecmon huffily and made for the door, looking very flustered.

"H-Hmph! The conversation is finished! Don't ask me such personal things, o-or keep prying, got it?!" he snapped, but any intimidation he might have had was gone where he looked and sounded both very embarrassed, and very defensive.

Elecmon hummed tunefully behind Raijumon, as if delighted at the revelation that Raijumon had at one point been more of a 'romantic', since the Raijumon of the past had been colder still than the one he was teamed with now.

"But yes, as much as you try to keep the stoic stone-wall front, it's obvious you've changed, papa wolf." Elecmon grinned as they headed for the stairs, before getting hit on the head with a small pebble that Raijumon tossed over his shoulder.

"Oh just shut the hell up, Elecmon!"

* * *

><p>"Raijumon, you scruffy old furbag! Where've you been? You nearly missed out on the party!" Teslamon cried in an almost faux-jovial tone, between shooting a panicked look at Elecmon, and trying to keep up an air of enthusiasm and hospitality to his quite unexpected and most certainly unwanted guest.<p>

"Where do you think? Taking care of my kid." Raijumon replied icily, making absolutely no effort whatsoever to even attempt masking his disdain for the giant snake. "Don't worry about faking niceness, Teslamon. This reunion is only temporary. We part ways once we reach the digital world, after all."

"Tch." Teslamon hissed under his breath, irked that the rookie had seen through his fake-glee so easily, "Really? You won't consider joining the new and improved clan? We'll be better than ever! We'll soon get a quality hideout in order and start up the old bounty hunting again, right lads?"

Teslamon was almost taken aback by the rejection of not only Raijumon, but Elecmon, too, whom he had always assumed to be blindly loyal to him no matter what. He seemed oblivious to the fact his own greed and power lust had pushed the fan-tailed digimon away, but it enraged him inside deeply that Elecmon's loyalty was now faltering due to interference from Raijumon, and he didn't have to wait long to find out why.

"Count me out. I left those days in the past, where they belong. I have my daughter to think of..." Raijumon replied dryly, waving his claws dismissively at the big cobra.

"And I'll be heading out with him to see both him and the young Monica to a safe place in exchange for their help here," Elecmon added, in such renewed confidence that Teslamon felt himself shake with rage.

He had spent all that time crushing the confidence out of Elecmon to stay his loyalties where he felt they belonged, and everything was already coming undone. He'd rather face the Agents than the constant knocks he was being dealt right now.

...And then there was her, the little girl he'd barely acknowledged since she and her 'father's' arrival. He'd done a good job trying to ignore her existence so far, but now he was constantly reminded of her presence, it made him aware of another glaring problem.

Raijumon and Elecmon's motivations were both revolving around this weak, insignificant little runt of a kid, and not on reclaiming their glory days and infamous reputation that it made Teslamon sick to his stomach. Raijumon in particular seemed to be toting the lines between trying to hold onto his feral roots, but also cling to some semblance of 'humanity' instilled in him by the sickening wench he'd been pining after all this time.

If Teslamon didn't require Raijumon's help so much, he'd gladly have obliterated him there and then, and vented his spleen on the girl for 'warping' a once truly noble hunter into a soft-hearted make-believe 'daddy'.

Monica, feeling uneasy around the giant snake, gave Raijumon's claws a nervous squeeze.

"Speaking of leaving things in the past, scruffbag, you should've left the whelp and her mother in the past, too..." Teslamon commented idly, ignoring the horrified expression from Elecmon pleading with him to hold his tongue, "...Still, Thunderbirmon's rampage took care of _one_ of those problems, hm?"

"W-What did you just say?!" Raijumon snarled, his hackles rising. Both he and Monica mirrored shocked, wide-eyed expressions in disbelief and horror at Teslamon's sickening jibe. "You bastard- you won't live long enough to see the Digital World!"

Raijumon shot straight for the cruel snake, sharp claws outstretched for his former-ally's throat. Teslamon smirked and blind-sided Raijumon in the side of the head with a lash of his thick tail. Raijumon felt like he'd been hit by a car, sent flying over to slam into the wall.

Monica screamed and ran straight for her 'father's' side, in tears. Her vision was so blurry she could barely tell what kind of state he was in.

"Teslamon, stop!" Elecmon growled, hurriedly jumping in between, "What the hell has gotten into you?! They came to help us, and you're saying such awful, horrid and undeserved things!"

All of a sudden, Teslamon seemed to shrink away from Elecmon, and began coughing hard, his chest heaving. Each cough racked his chest, hurt his ribs and had him spraying sparks everywhere, in such force that Elecmon backed off in surprise.

Raijumon got back up, using the wall for support. On unsteady feet, he watched Teslamon with a mix of confusion, anger, and disgust. Monica buried her face in his chest, trying to drown out the awful sounds the big snake made.

Finally, Teslamon stopped, and gasped for breath, before his face seemed to soften, and his eyes lost their sharp glare.

"Raijumon... sorry. I said something incredibly careless and rude... my apologies. I haven't quite felt right lately... been a bit under the weather." Teslamon explained, in a voice that sounded genuine, (or so it appeared), "To be so close to home, yet so far, and coming down with a touch of sickness... it does things to a guy."

"H-Hnh... whatever... I just hope the rift is ready, soon..." Raijumon muttered, where he was still winded. "Let's just cut to the chase and take us to where you sensed the rift, Teslamon."

"Yes... let's not delay, shall we?" Teslamon announced, before slithering off down the hall towards a set of big double doors marked 'no entry' in bright red.

Beyond this were a set of corridors, before entering a gigantic hall containing the main generator. Teslamon glided across the vast room, before stopping just beside the generator itself. As the others approached, they could see a tiny distortion in the air, no bigger than the palm of an adult human hand, sparkling and shimmering away, briefly flickering to show lines of binary and grids.

"This. As you can see, it's not fully formed, nor is it open... it's just a small hole in the fabric of reality. And it's the main cause of the power outages... bar my syphoning, of course." Teslamon explained, "When it's at least the size of dear, sweet Monica, it will be ready to start pouring our energy into it. Together."

Raijumon looked apprehensively from the spark to the generator, and then back to Teslamon.

"You're positive this is safe? Nothing could go wrong?" he asked, sounding doubtful of the entire plan.

"Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't be trying to open it if it wasn't... after all, I don't plan on letting myself get killed so easily, least of all by something like this." Teslamon commented dismissively, "Anyway, since it'll be a while to go, yet, I say we go on patrol, make absolutely sure nobody comes by whilst we await the rift. Now, get going!"

And with that, Raijumon, Monica and Elecmon begrudgingly set off to patrol one way, whilst Teslamon went off in the other direction, looking increasingly more unsettled and ill by the minute.

* * *

><p>It was 4pm, and Arch Angel had quietened down on activity. There was an hour left before Joey clocked off to go home, and Manimon had finally grabbed the chance to sneak off quickly.<p>

The implacable rabbit approached the door at the back of the boiler room, nervous and feeling very shy. He clutched a large sketchpad to his chest, with a box set of coloured pencils tucked under one arm.

Knocking a few times on the door to announce his arrival, he entered inside.

"Well now, if it isn't my favorite little carrot cake?" Tarockmon announced from across the room, more visible this time due to sitting in the red light projected from behind the grated ventilation fan on the wall opposite. "I wasn't expecting any visitors today."

The jester was sprawled out on his back on top of a storage crate in the corner, with his legs straight up against the wall, and his hat's 'ears' trailing down off the edge of the crate.

"O-Oh, a-ahaha, then I guess it's just us again..." Manimon chuckled bashfully, though mostly to himself.

"Couldn't wait to get me own my on, could you? You're so naughty, my little carrot cake!" Tarockmon smirked. Straightening up, he adjusted so that he was sitting with his legs swinging off the side of the crate, radiating an aura of carefree relaxation. Manimon almost envied him. "What's that you've got?"

"T-This?" Manimon had forgotten he was even holding the sketchpad and coloured pencils until Tarockmon had mentioned it, "O-Oh, right! This, uh... this is for you... please accept it!"

Manimon held up the sketchpad and the coloured pencils, and Tarockmon took them from him, almost disbelievingly. The jester said nothing, turning the pad over in his hands and flipping through the clean white sheets, and looking admiringly at the coloured pencils.

"Manimon... nobody has ever gifted me anything, before... is it really alright to keep these?" He asked, looking down at Manimon humbly. It seemed so strange to the rabbit that such a powerful digimon seemed as though he felt almost unworthy around him.

"O-Of course... it's yours. T-Take good care of it all, a-and knock out some art, g-got it?" Manimon managed to stammer out, still feeling very bashful around Tarockmon, and inwardly very twittery from having managed to deliver the present after all... though he soon remembered such actions hadn't been purely for charity. "U-Uh... I also c-came to ask if you'd had any more dreams?"

"About that... I have some news in regards to something that may happen this very night..." Tarockmon began. Manimon's ears stood up straight in surprise; something was going to happen THIS suddenly? But before the jester could continue, the pair heard voices coming from the corridor beyond the boiler room.

Tarockmon slid off the crate and hurried past Manimon, out into the boiler room, with the rabbit hurrying after him and almost bumping into the back of the jester's legs as he stopped at the door leading out into the corridor, cracking it open just enough to peek out. Both of the digimon spied on the proceedings.

Jasper, Bao and Nero were geared up in protective, almost militaristic, suits, which were developed to provide protection against electric shock and high voltage damage. A woman with dark purple-tinted hair was talking to them, but it was difficult to hear where she spoke quietly. After she finished, the three men passed by the door, Yalimon, Minkmon and Hulimon following in a smart line behind their respective partners.

"Where Are they off to?" Manimon asked, peering up at Tarockmon, who quietly slid the door shut after the corridor was empty. "They usually just go out in their fancy suits, what's with the protective gear?"

"...Do you remember when I said I had news about... something meant to happen tonight?" Tarockmon reminded the rabbit, as the pair quietly returned to the hidden room, "What the Agents are being deployed for now... it all ties into it."

Manimon could feel himself becoming a bag of nerves, fast breaking out into a sweat. What on earth was supposed to be happening tonight?

"Listen, this is very important... something will happen tonight that concerns you, or people close to you... and, this is very important..." Tarockmon started, his voice sounding low and grave, "You must let whatever happens, happen... even if it scares you, you must not interfere with the sequence of events. Do you understand?"

Manimon just stared numbly down at the ground, sweating and shivering with anxiety. Tarockmon knelt before him, and rested a hand on his small shoulder, giving him a soft shake. The rabbit roused enough to look up at the jester digimon.

"Do you _understand_, Manimon?" He repeated, "Whatever happens tonight... you must let it happen. I feel that things could go _terribly wrong_ if it doesn't follow the _exact_ sequence..."

Manimon stared up at Tarockmon, completely crestfallen. What the jester was asking of him felt impossible to swallow, let alone accept, and all the doubt and fear made him wonder if he was misplacing his trust in someone he still barely knew.

"You're asking me to let my friends get hurt... for the sake of the future?" Manimon asked, feeling tears sting and prick at the corners of his eyes, where his internal conflict felt too much for him to handle, "I... I can't do that..."

"Sometimes, painful things happen for the sake of the greater good..." Tarockmon replied, anxiously coiling one 'ear' of his hat around his finger as he tried choosing his words more carefully, "I feel like something important is supposed to happen... and if it doesn't happen, valuable information could be missed out on, and it could have such a negative impact, well..."

"W-Well what? What could missing out on supposed valuable information impact on the world?" Manimon fired back, his ears pinning right back, as he searched the masked jester's face for answers.

"It could impact whether we have a future to look forward to, or not." And that was all it took to make the rabbit crumble, as it all came tumbling down on top of him. "Tonight marks the beginning of finding answers... for a lot of things yet to come. Which is why I implore you to co-operate, Manimon, and not interfere... please, can you do this for me?"

Manimon said nothing. He simply stood in place, fists clenched, tears dripping down his face and onto the cold floor.

"F-Fine... but the second you've pieced together your little mystery, I want answers..." Manimon mumbled, futilely swiping his arm across his eyes, trying desperately to wipe away his tears. Turning on his heel, he made for the door.

"Thank you, Manimon..." Tarockmon called out to him, "It means more than you'll ever know, to have your co-operation."

After seeing Manimon out, the jester sat down cross-legged on the ground, his back resting against the crate.

Picking up his new sketchpad, and producing a pencil, he began sketching, trying to forget the painfulness caused by that whole messy encounter in the pursuit of art, whilst longing for forgiveness.

* * *

><p>Joey stepped onto the train, and took a seat by the window. He stared out at the buildings rushing past as the train took off. He'd be home in no time, and then he and Amy would be starting 'Horror Night', which they'd been planning for a while.<p>

A whole marathon of horror movies and games until they crashed out for the night. There'd be snacks and drinks, and next time, Marina and Darren were being roped into things, too.

Reaching for his D-Drive, he went to check the time, and instead found a very heartbroken-looking Manimon, deep in thought and staring off into space, and all thoughts of 'Horror Night' left Joey, replaced by worry.

"Something happen at work, Manimon? You've been really quiet since just before we left for home. What's on your mind?" Joey asked, tapping the screen lightly to get Manimon's attention. The rabbit looked up, sighed, and then glanced away.

"It's nothing." he lied, wringing his paws anxiously. Joey studied his expression in an overly critical way, before Manimon gave in, "Joe... do you ever feel like there's something we're not doing?"

"What does that mean?" Joey asked, sounding confused. He had no idea where that had come from, or what Manimon was supposedly getting at, "I don't... get what you're saying. What are you getting at?"

"Do you feel like something will happen? Something... bad?" Manimon asked. He desperately sought comfort and answers, some sense of security, but none of that would come, especially not from Joey, who was in the dark on it all.

"You're not nervous about tonight, are you?" Joey laughed, "Because we can always break up the horror marathon with your favorite Badass Bunny cartoons, if that'd make you feel better?"

"N-No! I mean, y-yes, some Badass Bunny would make me feel better, b-but it's not to do with films!" the little rabbit stammered, waving his paws up at his partner, "Just... I have a bad feeling about tonight, that's all..."

"Well, don't think on the bad thoughts. Try thinking about the positives! We'll have snacks, drinks, blankets, soft pillows and you can always rile up Laelapmon until she bites your tail again. You're a bit of a masochist when it comes to her, eh?" Joey laughed again, booping Manimon's nose on the touchscreen, which made Manimon wrinkle it in protest.

"S-Shut up! I'm trying to have a serious talk with you, and all you've done is embarrass me!" Manimon growled, and then just like that, blanked the screen and muted himself, signifying that the conversation was over.

"Well, that's a first." Joey sighed. He put his D-Drive away and felt confident Manimon would feel alot better once he got his ears massaged and his belly stuffed full of sweets during the movie marathon, blissfully unaware of all the emotional luggage Manimon was dealing with, on top of a very real anxiety as time began to run out.

* * *

><p>"Daddy... I don't feel so good..."<p>

Raijumon stopped his patrol and looked back at Monica. She'd begun falling behind during the walk through the power plant. The quietness, emptiness and nerves from being in a place they weren't meant to be in was getting to her, and the stress was starting to wear her down.

"Monica..." Raijumon hurried to her side, and placed his palm against her forehead. She was cold and clammy, and her face was beginning to pore cold sweat. "God... it was stupid to even come. I never should have agreed to this... come on."

"W-Where are we going, daddy?" Monica quietly asked, taking ahold of his claws in her little hand, as he began to head back towards the generator room.

"I'm taking you to that office over-looking the generator room so you can rest, sweetheart. You're not looking too good, and daddy thinks you need to go to bed early tonight." He knew that Teslamon was going to protest against this every step of the way, but regardless of the difference in levels, he refused to be pushed around by the champion-level snake.

The generator room was empty. Teslamon had slithered off some time ago, but Raijumon could see that any peace he and his kid would have wouldn't last long enough for it to bring any comfort to Monica.

Helping her up the grated stairs, they headed across a catwalk to reach the office, which was locked. After nearly knocking the door off it's hinges with several hard hits, Raijumon got Monica inside, and began taking check of what could be useful.

The first thing he noticed over in the corner was a leather sofa, with a tacky potted plant beside it. The first call to action, the raiju digimon got his young partner over and laying on the sofa, before he began to ransack the desk.

The laptop was dead, as was the landline phone. There was nothing really of use in the drawers aside from paperwork, a photograph of a woman, a man and a small boy, a pack of peppermints and a cellphone.

Just as Raijumon went to inspect the phone, he heard Monica begin coughing. Her chest was heaving, and she twisted onto her side, retching over the edge of the sofa. Raijumon hurriedly pulled out the waste paper bin from under the desk and got it over to her, just in time for her to vomit into it.

"Monica... get it all out, it's okay..." He coaxed, his voice soothing her a little. He rubbed her back as she continued to throw up, until it finally seemed to pass. Her entire little frame shivered visibly, as she groaned. She made a reaching gesture for the bag on Raijumon's back, which he took off, hurriedly getting out a flask of water he'd filled before they'd left.

"I feel sick, Daddy..." she murmured, after gulping down water. She could still taste bile in the back of her throat, and it was making her want to throw up again. Raijumon rubbed her back, desperately trying to comfort her; it had been some time since she'd last been sick. "I want to go home..."

"I'm going to phone for help, ok? Just sit tight." He replied, settling her back down. After laying the bedroll over her, he returned back to the desk and picked up the cellphone.

Locked. The damn thing was locked, and asking for a pin number. Raijumon gnawed on his lip in frustration. He was fast regretting coming here, and the worry building up inside was nearly spiralling out of control. The phone was locked, and his D-Drive was dead. He felt so close, yet so far, from contacting Joey.

Elecmon's arrival at the office almost scared Raijumon senseless.

"Don't creep up on me like that!" He snarled, bounding across the room to pull Elecmon inside, closing the door behind them. "I need your help. Elecmon, help me find a phone!"

"What's going on? Slow down, you're talking much too fast!" Elecmon cried, his paws tugging down on his long ears in dismay, "Start from the beginning, what happened?"

"Monica's sick. She started throwing up... this place is making her stressed, and ill. I need to get her out of here." Raijumon explained, unable to keep the worry out of his voice as he whispered into Elecmon's ear, "I need to find one of these, one that isn't locked. I need to call someone for help. I can't even think of taking her to the Digital World in this state!"

Elecmon looked over at Monica's sleeping form on the sofa. She was whimpering and groaning in her sleep, looking so drained and helpless. Elecmon gnawed on his claws anxiously.

"We can't let Teslamon know, or he'll flip out. What do you want me to do?" Elecmon asked again, as Raijumon held up the cellphone.

"This. I need one of these, as fast as possible. It mustn't be locked, like this one is... and we've got to find one that works, fast." Raijumon urged the smaller red digimon, "This will be my only chance to get her someplace safe..."

"Are you sure someone can get here fast enough?" Elecmon inquired, worriedly, "I mean... we're out in the middle of an abandoned part of town... who are you even going to call?"

"A tamer I met recently... and as for where they are, I'm just going to have to pray he gets here as soon as possible. I'll open the rift with you and Teslamon, but I won't be going through... I'll leave with the tamer, and get Monica someplace safe..." Raijumon replied. It was the best plan he could come up with right now, where his mind felt like it was racing a mile a minute. "The sooner we find a working phone, the better..."

Quietly approaching his little girl, Raijumon brushed a few strands of hair from her face, made sticky by sweat. After planting a gentle kiss on her cheek, he returned to Elecmon, and the two exited back down the stairs, and hurried off on the search for a working phone.

* * *

><p>Monica came around a little while later. Sitting up, she swung her legs over the side of the sofa, and slid off onto her feet.<p>

The sky was starting to grow dark, now, as she peered out of the office window at the sun-roof above the generator room. Looking around at the room below, she saw no signs of Raijumon, or Elecmon.

But she had seen someone else.

Opening the office door, she started out across the catwalk, her legs feeling weak where walking high up like this was making her nervous. After slowly descending down the stairs, she started to cross the giant hall of a room to approach Teslamon.

The giant snake was curled over himself behind the generator, making retching sounds, himself. Monica's fear dissolved away, replaced with a sense of sympathy. Teslamon was being sick, too, just like she had been.

"Are you sick, too?" She asked, a lot closer now. If she reached out, she'd be able to touch the tip of his long, serpentine tail. "It's gonna be ok, mr. snake..."

Rearing up to his full height, Teslamon stared down at her after whipping around. Thick, black, viscous liquid dripped from his mouth, his teeth and gums looking horribly discoloured. The same gummy fluid poured from his nostrils and eyes, leaving inky black tear stains, though from the aggressive glint in his golden eyes, which were flecked red, he was far from crying.

"How long have you been standing there?!" Teslamon hissed, bringing his snout close to her face. His breath stank of rot and sick, and it stung Monica's eyes and throat, making her tear up and cough from the burning sensation. "Tell me!"

"I o-only came down b-because Daddy i-isn't here, a-and you were being sick..." She stammered, shaking so hard she stumbled backwards a few steps. It was taking everything she had not to burst into tears. "I w-was just worried..."

"I don't need your fucking concern, you little bitch!" Teslamon snarled at her, inflicting another blast of putrid air in her face, "If you tell Raijumon or Elecmon what you saw, I'll crush you like your bitch of a mother, got it?!"

Monica was so overcome in grief and shock from the ferocity of Teslamon's voice, and the cruelty of his words, that she burst into tears, turning and making a dash for the stairs. Teslamon's awful, rasping laughter followed her all the way into the office, where she slammed the door shut, dashing to the corner to curl up into a ball, her sobbing and wailing drowning out any further noise made by the sickening snake in the room outside.

* * *

><p>Elecmon had taken Raijumon to another set of offices, and the two had spent close to an hour turning entire rooms upside down. Finally, after enough searching, they'd found a mere five cellphones.<p>

Two were locked, one's battery was dead, another was out of credit... but the last was on, unlocked, and with credit.

Raijumon wiped his brow from relief, allowing himself a breather in the moment of victory. Elecmon slumped down beside him, worn out from all the sorting and searching.

"We did it... we found one that works... let's go back, right away." Raijumon said, getting back on his feet. Elecmon stumbled off after him, trying to keep up with his companion, he was near bounding away back towards the generator room.

"Hold up, friend. Best let me go on ahead and distract Teslamon, so you can get upstairs without him spotting the phone, or everything's blown. I wouldn't be surprised if he came back by now." Elecmon explained, which had Raijumon halting and allowing Elecmon to take the lead.

"S-Sorry... just eager to get on calling help for Monica..." Raijumon apologized, feeling ashamed of himself. He had to be more alert; letting down his guard around Teslamon at any point was dangerous, and could spell disaster for everyone present.

"You'll get her someplace soon, I'm sure. But let me do the distractions and just get up there, alright?" Elecmon grinned, patting his friend's claws lightly, "This'll all be over soon, then we'll be right where we all want to be."

As soon as the pair got back to the generator room, Elecmon hurried over to make his report. Teslamon noted Raijumon holding back, before making a bee-line for the stairs, straight to the office.

"His priorities sicken me." Teslamon complained, talking over Elecmon and cutting the fan-tailed rookie's report short, "He should be reporting to me first, and instead, he goes skulking off to that whelp up in the office."

"Sir, can you blame him? Young Monica is sick... it's only natural to check on those you care about, isn't it?" Elecmon interjected, hoping to dissuade Teslamon from going off on another brutal tangent.

"His focus should be on me and the rift, not that little brat." Teslamon continued, blatantly ignoring Elecmon now. His gold eyes had become flecked with red, giving him an even more intimidating air, which, along with his increasing obsession over Raijumon's 'priorities' was worrying Elecmon.

"You seem stressed, and tired. The rift will form soon, I'm sure. Why don't you rest, boss? I'll keep an eye on the rift whilst you get some well-earned sleep, hmm?" the red rookie suggested, hoping he could persuade the big snake to back off of the subject of Raijumon. Thankfully, the champion seemed to register Elecmon, and seemed to accept the suggestion.

"Rest... sleep... yes, good. I think I'll do that. You keep an eye on the rift, and that bastard Raijumon, too..." Teslamon replied, before coiling himself up for rest. As Elecmon headed for the stairs, the little rookie missed the thin slit of one of the snake's eyes still slightly open, watching him closely.

He had a sneaking suspicion that those two were up to something. Conspiring against him? They'd find out the hard way what it meant to betray Teslamon.

* * *

><p>Amy reached for more popcorn, whilst Joey took a noisy slurp from his cola. The blonde girl rustled noisily in the popcorn bowl until pulling out a handful of popcorn, and then stuffed the entire wad into her mouth, crunching audibly away.<p>

Laelapmon glared over her shoulder at both humans and shushed them, before turning her attention back to the TV set, where she and Manimon were sat watching an almost hilariously awful costumed actor chase a young woman across her garden and into her house.

Manimon watched completely on edge. His emotions were already running high from the chat with Tarockmon at work, but every little thing had been making him twitch and jump. He'd even begun crying from stress when night rolled in.

"What's wrong with you? Waiting for Badass Bunny to come on?" Laelapmon asked, nudging Manimon with her long ear. He jumped and ended up sitting on it, causing her to yelp and whimper on having the tip of her ear squashed under several pounds of rabbit.

"S-Sorry... just had a bit of a rough day, is all..." Manimon replied, getting off of her poor, trapped ear.

Amy shifted slightly on the sofa and stretched slightly, before her and Joey both began to critisize and nitpick the movie, which they did every and any time they watched something together.

"This movie is so hilariously bad." Amy commented quietly to Joey, "And it's so cliched and overrated... it works more as a comedy than a horror."

"I think that's the main reason I like it so much, because it just reeks of pretentiousness and utter failure." Joey chuckled back, popping a marshmallow into his mouth, "Nothing like watching overrated films flop, huh?"

"I wish something would happen to spice up this bore-fest." Laelapmon yawned, before burying her nose into her bowl of fruit gum sweets. "Anything at all, rather than have to sit through more of this snooze-inducing drudgery..."

Manimon shot her a look, as if mentally willing her to shut up. Yet again, he cast another glance at the clock. It was nearly 8pm. Hopefully, the night would tick on and nothing would happen, and then come tomorrow he could sing from the rooftops 'YOU WERE WRONG!' at Tarockmon until the proverbial cows came home.

The woman on the screen had just boarded up the last of her doors and windows, and was heading towards the stairs. The telephone begun to ring just as she approached the stairs, and at the exact same moment in Joey's apartment, his D-Drive began ringing.

Manimon screamed and jumped straight up, going so high he nearly hit his head on the ceiling, whilst everyone else present burst into fits of laughter over the supposed scaredy-rabbit, none the wiser to the truth.

Joey answered, expecting it to be Darren or Marina, and got quite the shock on hearing neither of their voices, but that of Raijumon. Hurrying into another room to take the call, Amy stopped the movie and got up, both curious and worried from Joey's sudden change in behavior.

Manimon was shaking so hard that Laelapmon threw one of her ears around him consolingly, just as confused as her partner, whilst the rabbit digimon seemed to be bracing himself for the inevitable.

Joey came out some time later, pulling on his coat.

"Manimon, come on. We're needed."

* * *

><p>"You didn't have to come, Amy." Joey sighed, as all four headed out into the darkened car park outside of the apartment complex, "It's getting late out and you're going out to do more for your assignment, aren't you?"<p>

"I'm not letting you go all the way to some power plant in the middle of the night alone," She replied back dryly, "Besides, the train will take ages getting you there when we can use much faster transportation. You'll thank me for this, trust me."

Holding out her D-Drive, Amy's digivice began to glow brightly, illuminating the area around both herself and where Laelapmon stood. The small dog underwent her digivolution and in no time at all CuSithmon stood where Laelapmon had, previously.

"You're not suggesting we...?" Joey asked, pointing at CuSithmon incredulously.

"No traffic, no waiting around, and plenty of shortcuts. It's perfect, isn't it?" Amy grinned, as CuSithmon lowered herself down for her partner to climb on. Joey climbed on behind her, nervously, with Manimon holding onto him from behind.

"Don't be afraid to grip as hard as you need to," CuSithmon called back over her shoulder to the three passengers, "I'll be taking the rooftop route. Just give me directions and we'll get going."

After checking over a city map on their D-Drives, the human pair devised the fastest route they could think of, and CuSithmon set off. Amy almost felt winded in the gut where Joey was clinging onto her so hard, and Joey constantly made remarks at Manimon to watch where he put his paws.

As CuSithmon went soaring from one roof to the next, jumping from low to high, and almost seeming to glide from high to low, Manimon couldn't help but feel like they were fast approaching certain imminent doom.


	14. Without A Trace

A slight breeze shook the iron-barred gates and fencing as CuSithmon soared clean over it and into the front car park of the power plant.

Dismounting, her wary, slightly shaken up passengers stretched and adjusted to being back on firm ground again.

"That will take some getting used to." Amy commented, as she and Joey both surveyed the empty, silent building ahead. "Now we're here, how do you propose we get in?"

"Raijumon said that he'd been blocked in, and that a... former colleague of his, who has done this, is showing signs of being infected. We'll need to break in, and work quickly." Joey replied, before noticing Manimon fidgeting uncomfortably.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Joe... I mean, I saw the Agents during the evening gearing up, so they must have done some last minute training and prep for this situation, right? Why not leave it to them?" Manimon asked, wringing his paws anxiously. What Tarockmon had told him previously was still at the forefront of his mind, and regardless of whatever was 'meant' to happen, Manimon would prefer nothing happen at all - whether it was integral to the future or not.

"That won't do. Raijumon has placed his trust in us, and for good reason... the Agents will separate him from Monica. As much as I think Monica would benefit from a secure, human home... I can't just let that happen. They have a history and I don't think there'd be anyone that would truly understand what she's gone through, or how to help her, better than him." Joey sighed, rubbing his arm. "I can't do that to a young child. She needs him."

Manimon felt like he was going to break down crying any moment. Every second felt like time was running out for someone in their group. And he had a strong feeling it would be one of the human partners.

He looked up at CuSithmon. She looked stoic, but set in her confidence. She would be giving it her all, even if their success rates hadn't been perfect, she was starting to believe more in herself and her abilities, as was Amy. He wondered if they would still be confident after tonight's mystery event, where someone would inevitably have a meeting with destiny.

"Whatever happens inside, we press on. It seems like we're going to be on a time limit, then. Against an infected digimon, and the Agents arrival, whenever that will be." Amy started off towards the entrance, before turning to CuSithmon, "Do you think you have enough energy to last for a battle?"

"Of course. The run here pumped me up more than it wore me out. I'll be fine." The big dog turned her head to peer at Joey and Manimon, her thick mane billowing like silk in the soft breeze that seemed to accompany her everywhere, "If you two gentlemen would be so kind as to bust open those doors? I have a feeling even these ones are sealed."

Joey nodded and initiated Manimon's digivolution. In the next minute, he was Dvergamon, and ready or not, now was the time they were due to enter and face their fate. Biting his lip, he gingerly approached the door and revved up his drills, before smashing through the doors.

He had no further time to brace himself as CuSithmon lunged forwards, driving them both on ahead, their tamers following closely behind.

* * *

><p>The sound of crumbling stone and concrete, the loudness of Dvergamon's whirring drills and the sounds of voices and footsteps combined ensured Teslamon heard the intruders coming.<p>

Had his mind not been slowly deteriorating, he may have regretted not disposing of Raijumon for his inevitable betrayal. All he remembered now was his immense hatred of Monica; it was all the fault of the little whelp Raijumon had tailing him so closely she'd need to have been pried apart from him. But he'd needed Raijumon to help, though all of that had fast been pushed out of mind as the infection had taken it's hold.

Raijumon, Elecmon and Monica were poised at the top of the catwalk, preparing to come down the grated stairs to make a break for it, and Teslamon knew he refused to go down without taking them - specifically, Monica - down with him.

As well as the infection, rage and fury were fast clouding his mind however, and it drove him to rashly lunge forward, right for the catwalk. Monica cried out and clung to Raijumon, as he threw his arms around her protectively... but just as the great snake went to destroy the platform, CuSithmon had thrown herself at Teslamon, knocking him flat on his long, serpentine belly, her wind sword against his throat.

Raijumon took the opportunity to make down the stairs, Monica clinging to his back, with Elecmon at his side. He made straight for Amy and Joey, too relieved that he forgot his usual gruff, aloofness.

"Yggdrasil be damned, that was too close for comfort!" Elecmon wheezed, where his stubbier legs had him needing to run at double-speed just to keep up with the more lithe Raijumon.

"And not a moment too soon. He's completely lost his mind... I don't know what will happen to him next, but I want Monica as far away from here as possible." Raijumon growled insistently, looking anxious and impatient. He felt useless, where he was unable to digivolve and help hold Teslamon off. Had he been able to digivolve from the start, he may have been able to avoid putting Monica at risk in the first place, though right now he was too focused on the present to feel guilty.

CuSithmon raised her head, the wind sword's hilt gripped between her teeth, as she prepared to drive the blade down through the back of the snake's neck, and that would have been the end of him then and there, had he not reacted quickly to his vulnerable position.

CuSithmon didn't see the thick tail lash against the side of her face, knocking the sword clean out of her hold and knocking her off her feet. Teslamon was soon back up, his long body and neck arched, his frayed hood displayed wide, and the metallic ring that always floated above his head like an angel's halo crackling with electricity.

Hissing, he shot passed her and made for the crowd of humans and rookie digimon laying unguarded, and as the entire body of the group hurriedly scattered to avoid him, Dvergamon was on him next.

"Quickly, get Monica out of here!" Joey yelled over the sounds of the clashing champions, where he and everyone bar Amy had managed to get back towards the hole that had been their way into the room.

Raijumon had little time to thank Joey as he, Monica and Elecmon were urged through.

As the fleeing three began their escape, Raijumon faltered once the exit was in sight. Moonlight flooded in through the smashed open doors, Elecmon and Monica silhouetted against the outside world.

"Raijumon, come on, mate! We're free!" Elecmon urged, on turning and seeing Raijumon holding back. His heart sank as he knew what was surely coming.

"Teslamon is dangerous. Even with those digimon protecting them, his attacks could still easily find the humans and kill them." Raijumon murmured, looking back over his shoulder anxiously, back to where the sounds of fighting echoed through the empty complex, "Get Monica out of here, Elecmon. I need to cover the humans... I need to repay them for helping me get her out of there."

Monica's eyes widened in confusion on seeing that her beloved 'father' wasn't coming with them. Elecmon blocked her from running to him by standing in front of her.

"Daddy!"

The raiju digimon approached and wrapped his arms around the small girl, holding her tighter than he'd ever done before. He felt her fingers curl and cling to the thick ruff of fur around his neck, fearful and desperate.

"Be a good girl, Monica, and stay with Elecmon. I promise I'll be back soon." He reassured them, his voice softened from Monica's worry.

With that, he reluctantly let go of her, her small hands still lingeringly holding his mane as he slipped away from her like sand. All she could do was stare on helplessly as Raijumon ran back towards the dreadful snake, the monster that so terrified her, and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

* * *

><p>"Thunder Halo!"<p>

The metallic ring floating above Teslamon's head loosed off bolts of lightning, the loud crash of electricity striking Dvergamon's metal drills, which drew in the snake's attack like a lightning rod. The giant rabbit's scream was barely audible over the sound of the charges, and once the attack finished, Manimon was left laying, his body charred and smoking, where Dvergamon had previously been.

"Cyclone Sword!"

CuSithmon swung her blade, sending out a whirling hurricane of biting winds that slashed and tore Teslamon's skin open up and down his back, and slicing holes in his patterned hood. Hissing, and without turning, his electrified halo struck her, forcing her back as she did everything to resist against it, which left Joey pinned into a corner with no means to escape.

Joey felt a painful static shock as he grabbed Manimon, holding him to his chest as he backed off, but as Teslamon focused his attention back on him, he realized there was no way he would be able to outrun the lightning Teslamon wielded.

"CuSithmon, you have to stop him!" Amy urged, her voice almost shrill with panic and frustration. She, too, was unable to rush to her friend's aid, forced to take shelter behind her digimon, the constant barrage of shocks administered by her opponent constantly forcing the white dog back bit by bit, and increasing the distance between them.

All CuSithmon could do was snarl in response through her clenched teeth, the wind aura around her beginning to die down. Her sword dissolved away, where she was now forced to purely focus on defending herself and Amy. Her head bowed, she took the constant lightning strikes head-on, her body smoking and her head white-hot to the touch, she dare not tell Amy she was near-blind from the pain.

Teslamon loosed off more sparks as he prepared to strike down Joey next. The charge would kill him in a single blast, and take Manimon down with him, and there was nothing Amy or CuSithmon could do to get past the stream of electricity firing at them.

Teslamon's slitted eyes burned with cold flame, and Joey felt like he was staring into the very eyes of madness. The snake's wild-eyed glare fixed down on he and Manimon, and he braced himself for the worst. Everything overhead grew bright as the halo's electricity roared towards him, threatening to swallow them up.

But the electricity never reached Joey. A gold-coloured blur leapt in front of him, and drew Teslamon's attack to himself; it was so sudden that Joey barely had time to register that Raijumon had taken the entire charge, and saved his life.

Raijumon yelped like a wounded dog, and collapsed onto all fours, his fur standing on end from the strike, and crackling all over with electricity. Teslamon's charge had done a number on him, where he had willingly absorbed the entire attack into himself, but due to sharing an element, he took the hit better than Manimon had.

"Get out of the way... hurry... go!" Raijumon snapped, urging the blonde man to move. Joey quickly found his feet and rushed to get out of the corner, hurrying towards the hole in the wall.

"Amy, I need to see to Manimon, he can't fight like this!" Joey yelled, "You need to get out of there, too! CuSithmon can barely stand any more!"

"Don't be absurd! We'll never get away in time!" Amy refused to back down; she knew that to turn and run would give Teslamon an opening, and she dare not risk that happening. He could easily pursue and outrun them, even if they got a head start through the tunnelling Dvergamon had done.

Amy's frustration made her deaf to Joey's yells, and she kept urging and pushing CuSithmon to fight. The big dog's eyes were glazed and unfocused... she could see nothing but whiteness, now. The strikes had damaged her sight, and it took everything she had to hold it together and not panic in front of her tamer.

"F-Faerie Flame!"

CuSithmon's body burned with the green-blue mystical fire, and she aimed, projecting the flames off of herself towards where she could smell Teslamon coiled up like a spring ready to strike. She missed the mark completely, and Teslamon was on her before she even knew what was happening.

"CuSithmon!" Amy yelled, watching helplessly as Teslamon flipped the white dog onto her back, pinning her down by her throat. His fangs pierced the soft flesh of her throat, and he administered more torturous jolts, the shocks coursing up and down her body, through her veins. The only sounds that escaped her gaping mouth were sharp, agonized and breathless gasps of pain.

"Wolf Blitz!"

Raijumon went shooting into the side of Teslamon's head like an electrically charged cannonball, the sudden hit cancelling Teslamon's attack on CuSithmon, and causing him to release her throat from his fangs.

Raijumon landed on the other side of Teslamon, his sharp eyes sizing up his former colleague. Whilst there was no love lost between the pair, the raiju digimon did not find fighting his past ally easy. This wasn't even the same digimon anymore.  
>The infection had drawn out all the hatred, anger and fear that had boiled away inside him, until it had consumed everything Teslamon had been; now he was an empty shell, a puppet to the virus that warped and destroyed his brain.<p>

"I'll put you out of your misery, you old bastard." Raijumon breathed, through clenched teeth. He'd known, sooner or later, he and Teslamon would have fought.

Behind him, he could hear Joey's voice yell out, catching him off guard. As he turned, he could see Monica stumble out from the hole. The gold-furred digimon's eyes widened in surprise and horror.

"Daddy!" She cried, calling for him. She'd seen the fighting, wide-eyed and fearful, and wanted it to stop. She wanted to get him away from the snake.

"Monica, get out of here!" He yelled, his back now turned to his foe. He'd lost himself in his alarm, and that had given Teslamon a window of opportunity to strike him down; and he took the chance eagerly.

Monica's ears filled with the roar of agony that tore itself from Raijumon's throat, her eyes fixed on the great snake absolutely thrashing the raiju's weaker body with his thick tail. Raijumon's body began to flicker, an aura of faint static barely visible in his unconsciousness.

"D-Daddy!" Monica cried, her eyes filling with tears. She wanted to run to his side, to hold onto him tight. The flickering and static, and the faint streams of data confused and frightened her, where she didn't understand digimon mortality.

Raijumon was barely conscious. He could just make her out, across from him, but she seemed so far away. He tried painfully, with the last of his strength reserves, to crawl to her, to be by her side, if that's what it would take to get her to leave to safety.

He didn't get far when Teslamon's tail came crashing down on top of his weakened body, crushing him into the floor. When the snake's tail lifted, Raijumon wasn't moving at all. His tail had already faded half way, and now so too were his legs beginning to fade.

He was dying, fading away right before Monica's eyes.

"DADDY!"

Her scream was the only sound that happened, where everyone else was too shocked to react, the sound causing a lull in Teslamon's action, as he stared directly at Monica, his mind struggling to catch up with itself, but still remembering her as the being he so wanted destroyed.

But she didn't run away. She stumbled forward, before breaking out into a staggering run, her vision blurred from tears, running straight for Raijumon.

Teslamon raised himself up to strike, a shrieking hiss escaping from his rasping throat, before he felt teeth biting down into the base of his tail. CuSithmon had managed to roll onto her side, and had, with the last of her own strength, clamped her jaws tightly into the snake, one of her paws pressing down with her claws digging in, desperately trying to hold her foe off from attacking Monica, with Amy doing her best to support her digimon in this endeavor.

Raijumon's eyes opened, just barely enough to see Monica coming from him. He thought, running beside her, he could make out a second figure, hazy, faint, but distinct. His eyes watered slightly as he stared in disbelief.

_Hannah_.

Thanks to the immense shock and the need to look again, it was then that he could see light radiating from Monica's pocket, where she had been holding on to her mother's dead D-Drive. But as the D-Drive had come back to life, so could Raijumon feel himself coming back from the cold, dark edge he felt he had been moments from passing over.

Teslamon broke free of CuSithmon's hold, knocking her back, before taking the chance to launch himself towards Monica's tiny, frail form, which triggered the glowing digivice she now held, shielding herself with her arms in fear.

"Raijumon, look out!" Amy cried, before the wailing of Hannah's D-Drive cut her off.

In a burst of light, which seemed to engulf and swallow up the room, Raijumon's form grew and expanded. He was digivolving.

"Raijumon, digivolve to..."

His golden coat turned to pure white, with gold lightning bolt-like jagged stripes marking his body. Tiger-like gloves formed over his large paws, black with gold stripes, which had his claws exposed, fit for mauling and tearing. The whiskers on his face grew long, almost the length of his body, coiling and sparking like live wires.

His tail grew long and whip-like, with jagged striping near the tip. A tiger-pelt sash seemed to float freely about his neck and arch over his shoulders, matching his new gloves in colour, with three large gold rings decorating the sash.

"Denkoumon!"

A howl ripped from the newly evolved champion's throat, as the now-giant raiju digimon soared clean over Teslamon, landing down in front of Monica, his body shielding hers.

"Da... Daddy...?" Monica whispered, staring up at the giant white and gold figure towering over her. Such a thing, in all her life, had never happened.

"I made a promise to your mom... I'd always take care of you." Denkoumon nuzzled his snout against Monica's face lovingly, "Nothing will get in the way of that promise."

_Hannah must have enabled this. She's watching over us_. He thought, slipping his eyes closed briefly. The loud, enraged hissing from Teslamon had him look up, and lock eyes with his deranged enemy.

Teslamon's eyes had clouded over completely black, with tar-like liquid dripping down the sides of his face. The virus and his wrath had completely eaten him alive inside, and the digimon he'd used to be was completely gone.

"Jupiter Spear!"

Denkoumon opened his mouth and fired off a jagged javelin made of pure electricity, which pierced through Teslamon's underbelly and burst through his back, spraying blackened data everywhere. The wound began to slowly close up; this strain of virus was being extremely aggressive.

"Cyclone Sword!"

CuSithmon had regained her footing, though was still unable to see, where she was blinded. The repugnant stench of decay emanating from Teslamon is the only thing that helped her hone her attacks. Razor winds slashed and tore at Teslamon's body, and like before, the wounds were slowly closing back up.

"This is no good. He keeps regenerating, and the Agents will be here any time now!" Amy called out, having to yell over the fighting digimon. She was carefully making her way to Monica, and Denkoumon nodded gratefully at the blonde hurrying Monica to cover behind the generator.

"Amy, try to get Monica over here! As soon as you're both out, we'll all make a run for it!" Joey yelled, where he and Elecmon had been forced to spectate from the sidelines helplessly. Even with Denkoumon's power, Teslamon's determination and drive to kill seemed to fuel the virus plaguing him to increase his own power immensely. Joey was worried; the more he saw of infected digimon, and the strange properties of the virus, the more fearful he felt of it.

It seemed it fed off of everything a digimon was. Their minds, emotions... everything.

"Jupiter Spear!" Denkoumon fired off another attack, as Teslamon unleashed another beam of electricity from his metallic halo. The powerful bursts of electrical energy clashed and gathered, swelling immensely as the lightning ravaged the entire room.

The energy struck the generator, which whirred to life until it threatened to overload and explode, the small rift that Teslamon had been vainly trying to open now tearing apart and distorting the entire corner the generator was situated in.

Amy screamed as she felt the inescapable pull of the rift forcing her and Monica both towards it, trapped in it's iron grip. No matter how hard she dug her feet into the ground, it pulled irresistibly, and there was no escape from the swirling, glistening vortex of light. Joey was yelling at her helplessly from afar, rooted to the spot in fear, with the distance being too great between them for him to have even gotten far enough to help.

"Amy!" CuSithmon howled, turning towards the rift. Although she couldn't see what was happening, she could feel it; the surging energy, the swirling data, the call of another world beyond the rift.

"Monica!" Denkoumon roared. Both he and CuSithmon were forced to abandon their fight with the infected Teslamon as the rift swallowed their partners whole. Without any hesitation, both champion digimon went dashing for the rift, allowing themselves to be swallowed up, too.

Joey and Elecmon could only stare in shock and horror as this happened, too lost in their terror to realize that they had now been left alone with an infected, powerful, and very hostile snake.

* * *

><p>Amy stirred slightly at the sound of wind chimes sounding gently in a soft breeze.<p>

As she opened her eyes, it took a little while for her to realize it wasn't a dream, nor had she remembered going to sleep in a forest of some kind; and then it came flooding back, and had her sitting up with a jolt.

They were no longer in the plant's generator room... the rift had pulled them to somewhere else. And she had a feeling she knew where she was, though in the vaguest terms.

The digital world's sky showed that it was evening, whereas in the real world, it had been coming close to dawn. The entire forest of dead, burnt-out trees were bathed in orange hues from the setting sun, the ash-coloured grasses rustling slightly in the breeze.

Every tree around her, for as far as she could see, had the distinct japanese shimenawa ropes tightly encircling them, red paper lanterns hanging from the branches containing candles that even the wind could not extinguish.

The wind chimes sounds, she discovered, were being made by small bell-shaped flowers, which tinkled lightly every time the breeze shook them. Some kind of imprint, like a computer's motherboard, was embedded in the sky, and also the very ground beneath her. Small lights sometimes flickered in the tree bark, which, when observed up close, had texturing akin to circuitry.

The tranquil atmosphere, and the shock of being in an alien setting was the only thing preventing her from panicking.

She also suddenly felt how heavy her body felt, as though she'd had an out-of-body experience and her soul had been shoved forcibly back into her body. Peering down, she could see Monica fast asleep beside her.

And then came Joey... worry began to set in as she wondered if he'd gotten out alright. It was just him, Manimon and Elecmon against Teslamon, and with Manimon out for the count, he had no means to defend himself...

When she looked around again, she was startled out of her thoughts and almost fell backwards in fright; a strange young man, his face shrouded by his cloak, was crouching beside her.

The young man's eyes were obscured, but from the way he smirked playfully over Amy's surprise, he seemed harmless. Amy felt her cheeks flush all the same over her startling, which had in turn woken up Monica. The younger girl hid slightly from nervousness behind Amy's arm, peering out shyly at the cloaked newcomer.

"No need to be alarmed," the stranger spoke, his voice breaking the quiet stillness of the dead forest around them, "You're in a safe place. If you come with me, I can get you something to eat and drink."

As Amy got to her feet and helped Monica up, she became acutely aware she'd forgotten about the digimon, both of whom were absent. The stranger seemed to anticipate this, as he added, "Your digimon are both safe. They're up at the shrine. Come along!"

As they followed the stranger up a progressively forming slope towards a giant tree growing up on a distant hill, Amy felt the need to try getting information from the strange man who was escorting them to goodness-knows-where.

"So, this is the digital world?" She inquired, wanting at least this part confirmed.

"Correct." Was the response he gave, in a matter-of-fact tone.  
>"You're human?" She asked, feeling stupid for asking, but also oddly doubtful. She knew nothing about the digital world, but she felt humans were definitely not native beings here, and yet from the way he dressed, and how familiar he was with things...<p>

"Maybe." He replied. Even with his back to her, she had the distinct impression he was smirking. She wasn't sure whether to feel frustrated, or just sigh... she got the feeling in regards to himself, he would be keeping tight lipped. She persisted anyway, however.

"Do you have a name?" She asked, fiddling with the hem of her t-shirt. Monica was keeping good step beside her the whole time, her hands clasped together in silence.

"You can just call me 'Sage'. That's what I am. One of Yggdrasil's Sages." the Sage replied, peering over his shoulder at her. Long strands of dark hair slipped out from under the hood, which he didn't bother to brush back, though his eyes remained hidden from view. He'd definitely piqued Amy's interest, though.

Before she could ask any more questions, he spoke first, finally bestowing a bit more explanation on her.

"The tree we're going to is a Holy Tree. It's the only safe place in this area... you guys happened to land bordering a quarantined zone, you're lucky that no digimon come near here normally." He explained, as they crested the first half of the hill.

"Quarantined zone?" Amy questioned, before the Sage stopped and pointed back past the way they had just come.

Turning, they could now see a charred, blackened landscape not far off in the distance. Smoke and fumes rose ominously up, as far as the eye could see, causing thick black clouds to hang in the sky. A visible energy field surrounded the decayed-looking area, rippling like blood-red, oily water.

Amy felt Monica reach for her hand and squeeze onto it tightly from nervousness and fear. Amy found herself squeezing back on the small hand gently and protectively, and thanked whatever gods that existed here that they had landed in a safe area.

Turning back on track, the Holy Tree's leafy boughs shimmered as though coated in a fine layer of dew, and depending on where the light hit, gave a burst of pastel colours, as though a rainbow would form over it at any second.

There were small stones strewn about, as the dirt path gradually was replaced with a cracked stone brick path. Weeds and small flowers poked through gaps in the paving, and they began to climb up steps which seemed old and worn.

The steeper they climbed, the more the surrounding trees looked healthier, and the more leaves were on them. The grass grew greener, and the air felt sweeter, and Amy felt positive this was thanks to the Holy Tree.

The tree itself was surrounded by a small japanese-style shrine, black tiled roofing with red and white outer walls. The shoji sliding doors were pulled open, showing inside the hexagon shaped building that encircled the Holy Tree. Inside, resting on one of the tatami mat flooring, they could see Raijumon curled up and dozing, but otherwise awake, and he immediately sat up on seeing everyone arrive.

"Daddy!" Monica cried out, rushing into his arms. Amy watched her bury her face into Raijumon's mane, and sigh deeply.

"I'll get you and the younger one something to eat and drink. You're going to need it in order to get out of here." The Sage spoke, watching the little display with a chuckle. Amy said nothing, where she was anxious to find Laelapmon.

After the Sage wandered off to an adjoining room, Raijumon looked over and noticed Amy. Patting Monica's head gently, he whispered something to her before approaching. Monica obediently sat down and allowed Raijumon to talk with Amy alone.

"Do you know where Laelapmon is?" She asked, unable to keep the worry out of her voice, "Why isn't she here? I would have thought she would have been waiting for me..."

"About that..." Raijumon began. He felt unable to look Amy in the eyes; whilst he didn't know her, he felt partially responsible for what she would shortly discover, "She wanted to be on her own... I haven't let on that I know, I didn't want to upset her, but..."

"But...?" Amy felt her stomach twisting into knots. She had a strong feeling that there was something very wrong, and tried to brace herself and keep calm.

Raijumon turned and nodded his head towards a small door through the next room that lid outside, his voice quiet and serious, "She's out there. She asked the Sage to bring her to a quiet place where she could be alone."

Amy clutched a hand over her heart. She felt afraid, for reasons she couldn't explain, and Raijumon's reluctance to spit out what was wrong wasn't helping. She prepared for the worst as she headed towards the door, the evening sun still shining deep red rays into the spacious rooms.

Standing in the doorway, she found herself looking out over a beautiful oriental moss garden, with a pond in the center full of strange, exotic fish. Laelapmon was laying on the ground overlooking the pond, her chin resting on her paws. She looked distant and morose, staring off into space. Amy noted that something seemed off with her, and not just her mood; her eyes seemed unfocused and slightly paler than before.

"Laelapmon...?"

Laelapmon lifted her head, her ears perking slightly at the sound of her tamer's voice, before lowering her head back down. Amy felt a sharp stabbing pain in her chest; Laelapmon was usually so eager to come over to her, and now...

The blonde nervously stepped over and took a seat beside the small dog digimon. Putting her arm around Laelapmon's smaller self, she pulled her up into her lap and wrapped her arms around her in a firm embrace. Laelapmon rested her chin despondently on her human's shoulder, her eyes slipping closed.

"Laelapmon... I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault... you were worried about Joey." Laelapmon sighed, her unseeing eyes slipping closed. She could feel Amy shudder, her breathing coming out shaky and strained. "Manimon was out for the count... It felt like it was resting on me to get the job done..."

"But your eyes..." Amy pulled back, lifting Laelapmon's chin so their eyes met. Although Laelapmon couldn't see Amy, her partner faced her guilt and stared into the pale aquamarine eyes of her digimon remorsefully. "I'm so sorry..."

Amy rested her forehead against Laelapmon's, and the small white dog knew from the wet droplets dampening her face that Amy was crying. The shock of getting pulled into another world, wondering if Joey had escaped, and then to discover the damage that had been done had finally been too much for her, and she broke down.

* * *

><p>Raijumon paced back and forth near the door. Monica was sleeping soundly, still feeling slightly sickened herself. Getting away from Teslamon had helped immensely, and the girl had adjusted to being in the digital world much faster than Amy and Laelapmon had.<p>

Speaking of the other two, Raijumon constantly finding himself peering out into the garden at them. Amy had calmed down now, but both she and Laelapmon were lost in such morose moods. The raiju's honour had him feel indebted to them for their help, and he felt useless and frustrated, idling away.  
>His ears perked as he heard the Sage approaching from behind, and looked around.<p>

"Dinner's ready. I'm guessing the girls are still out in the garden?" the Sage enquired, a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

As the strange human went to walk past, Raijumon found him blocking him off hurriedly.

"Can nothing be done for them?" He asked, inwardly knowing the Sage knew more than he was letting on despite having politely kept quiet on it, "They got my girl out of a dangerous situation. And now they're paying the price for my... inadequacy..."

"Don't worry about that right now, friend. Just go and get yourself something to eat, and let me deal with Laelapmon, alright?"

Raijumon bowed his head, hesitating on leaving, his front paws padding back and forth on the floor before taking his leave. As he reached the door to where a small dining area had been set up, he glanced back once more, before heading through.

"Well then, seems you two have hit a bit of a snag." the Sage voiced, standing on the wooden decking leading out into the garden area. Both Amy and Laelapmon started out of their thoughts and looked up in surprise. "Mind if I have a look, there?"

Amy was unsure of what to say, and before she could think of a response, the Sage was kneeling by her side, lifting Laelapmon's chin to gaze into the little dog's eyes. His own face was still covered, and so it was impossible for Amy to tell his expression.

After an agonizing silence, he spoke.

"You're fortunate that you came here. The Holy Tree has healing properties... we bring many injured digimon here for them to recover their wounds, corrupt data... everything bar the virus infection can be restored." he explained, this knowledge making Amy's heart pound from hope and anticipation, "Her eyes are badly damaged... it will take a few days, but she should get her sight back."

Both Amy and Laelapmon were overcome with relief on the good news. However, the Sage was quick to add; "Make sure she rests a lot. I'll make up some medicine she can take once a day, for a week or so. It will repair the damage done to her eyes... until then you'll probably need to stick together with Raijumon. But even then... it may not be enough... the road to the exit will be difficult with your partner in that state."

Amy's mood fell on hearing that, as did Laelapmon's. They knew it wouldn't have been a walk in the park, but to know that even Raijumon would not be enough to get them through was a crushing blow.  
>"In any case, come inside and have something to eat. I'll tell you how to get home, and the help I've arranged to meet you over dinner."<p>

And with that, the Sage led a slightly crestfallen Amy and Laelapmon back inside.

Dinner consisted of a vegetable and noodle soup, bread, and fresh spring water from the well located on-site. It wasn't much, but it was otherwise very filling, and everyone present ate without complaint. The only one not eating was the Sage.

"It will take a few days travelling, but to the north of here, there's an Antenna Tree out over the Data Plains." the Sage spoke, whilst everyone else continued to eat, listening intently, "You'll need to get there to get home. It's the only way to contact the Operator, and he in turn is the only way to get you back to the real world. The guide I've arranged to take you part of the way will help keep you on the right track."

"The Operator?" Amy asked, reaching to clean Laelapmon's ear after she'd accidentally dunked it into her noodles.

"He's the entity that maintains certain things here in the digital world. His main area of expertise is keeping watch over data-attribute digimon, and currently maintaining all links in and out of the digital world." He explained, the others focusing on him in curiosity as he continued,  
>"And currently he alone manages the D-Drive functions. That's why he chose the name 'Operator', because most of his work revolves around the connections between D-Drives... which wouldn't be too severe on him, had Arch Angel not mass-produced their own ones."<p>

Raijumon felt the need to interrupt, then, which turned the topic from off of the Operator onto the subject of Arch Angel and the D-Drives.

"The D-Drives from Arch Angel are fake. Why do they cause him so much trouble if they're not legitimate by the blessing of Yggdrasil?" Raijumon asked, narrowing his eyes. Like most digimon native to the digital world, he was not fond of Arch Angel.

"Oh... but they're not fake. I can assure you, the Arch Angel D-Drives are very real and authentic; 100% digital world D-Drives." the Sage smirked, as Raijumon shot him both a confused and infuriated look, "Just mass produced beyond what would normally be needed."

"How can that possibly be?" Raijumon snapped, standing up in his seat, "They're man-made, are they not? They can't be true D-Drives. Arch Angel are the enemy! D-Drives are reserved for those chosen by the will of the digital world!"

Amy, who hadn't known much about the origin of D-Drives, was both lost in this conversation, intrigued, and feeling slightly scared at the debate going on between the raiju digimon and the mysterious robed young man.

"I never got to find out how they're doing it, but they're somehow making authentic, completely legitimate D-Drives. That's something I was investigating before I came here." He responded, cool and calm in the face of Raijumon's ire, "Actually, Amy, there's something you need to do when you go back to Japan."

"E-Eh? What is it?" She asked, startled slightly at suddenly being addressed, as she got the feeling some responsibility would be placed onto her shoulders.

"There's something a colleague of mine was researching at Arch Angel. Something important. I can imprint the access codes to his old research files, and give them to you to pass on to Joey. He'll get more use out of it than anyone else, I believe." The Sage explained, before getting up out of his seat, "if I may, I'll put them onto your D-Drive. I'll have this back to you come the morning."

Amy hesitantly passed her D-Drive across the table to the hooded figure, watching him interestedly. Although she'd known him only a very short while, she knew that he was all for mystery and suspense, and he certainly delivered that.

"What was he researching?" She asked, brimming with curiosity and intrigue.

"He believes he may not only have found out what ruined the world in 2012, but what may come to destroy everything as you know it in the near future."

* * *

><p>Amy, Raijumon and Laelapmon found it near impossible to sleep after taking in the bombshell dropped by the Sage at dinner.<p>

"I don't like it. Not one bit. I'm taking Monica and we're going our separate ways after we get back to the real world." Raijumon murmured quietly, keeping his voice low where Monica was fast asleep beside him; she'd been the only one to get to sleep easily, where most of the discussion had been a bit too complex for someone her age.

"Oh sure, go ahead and play ignorant, but no amount of pretense or ignorance or running will save you or her in the end if those research files are any merit." Laelapmon snapped back in frustration; she still felt that Raijumon could have been a bit more co-operative, considering the state of her eyes.

Raijumon sensed her aggression and toned it down, though Amy could tell he was obviously worried about his daughter and was trying to get her as removed from dangerous situations as possible.  
>"It really would help, having you around. That would bring our team up to five... that's more people to help look after you and Monica." Amy suggested, her hands clasped against her chest as she turned from staring up at the ceiling to face the gold-furred digimon in the futon beside hers, "You and Monica are always welcome to stay in the second bedroom in my apartment. It's warm, clean and safe, I promise."<p>

"I don't need anyone's 'help' to take care of Monica." He started off, before a low snarl from Laelapmon cut him off.

"...Which is why you didn't need us to come and help bail you out against that snake, right?"

"You got over-turned by the snake. Had we not been pulled into the digital world, I could've beaten him myself. If you recall, I digivolved."

"...After almost getting killed, and putting your daughter through panic. I don't need sight to know she was terrified; I could sense it."

"Are you suggesting I did that on purpose?! That I enjoyed her suffering?!"

Amy had to sit up in a flash as Laelapmon and Raijumon almost went for each other. Laelapmon had been irritated due to her vision problems, and the bitter medicine she had to take often left her in a sour mood. Raijumon's pride was grating on her, too.

"Listen, Raijumon... I think you're mixing up help as taking away your responsibility... and that really isn't so." Amy said, doing her best to soothe both digimon's tempers by gingerly stroking their heads. Raijumon ducked his head to avoid her hand, looking as defiant as ever.

"And you can speak from experience, can you?" He snapped, laying back down and closing his eyes, letting out an indignant snort.

"Maybe not as harsh as you've experienced, but I can definitely identify with Monica." She replied, a lot more firmly, still watching him. "My father raised me on his own, too. He faced similar challenges as you. You're both quite alike, especially when he was younger."

Raijumon opened his eyes at this, turning to, for once, look at Amy as she spoke.

"I was 12 when it happened. My parents had been on an expedition in the Amazons, way out in the heart of the rainforest. It was just them, and a very small team... around five in total. Despite vaccinations, my mother got very sick. My dad thinks she may have been bitten by a venomous snake... nobody realized until it was too late. They never made it back to civilization in time, and she died in hours." Amy began, wringing her futon cover in her hands, staring up at the ceiling. This was a story she hadn't even shared with Laelapmon yet.

"My dad was heartbroken, and distraught. It put him off of travelling, and researching the jungle. When he came home and told me the news, I couldn't process it. I couldn't accept it, and it was clear he couldn't accept it either. He felt responsible. He felt guilty. It wasn't long before he picked up smoking and drinking again, habits he'd quit before I was born but had flared up again because he couldn't cope.

He struggled with work and wound up quitting, trying to focus on me. I guess he felt his time with mom had been fleeting, because now he tried devoting his time to me. But it was hard on him... draining. He stopped seeing friends, or having any kind of life at all. He fell into depression, and shut us both away from the outside.  
>Had it not been for his friends, like Joey's grandfather, Garrick, and my dear friend Hiro and his family, as well as our relatives... I think my father would have continued to shut himself off and gotten worse and worse in his habits. His protectiveness over me, and from shutting us both away, meant I had few friends. There was really only Joey... he'd pulled me out of school, so he could do everything he felt he should do, or do the things mom would have done.<p>

I guess I got off to a poor start in life... I couldn't socialize well - I still can't, if I'm honest - very doubtful of myself, where I never got to push myself or challenge myself, where he was afraid I'd get hurt. I only started to really live properly when we got our lives back on track.  
>I guess, what I'm saying is... don't be like how we were. Don't pile everything on yourself. You will always have your responsibility, but don't turn down the opportunities for something better. My dad did for so long, and I feel in some ways, we're both still paying for it now... once experiences have molded someone, it can be impossible for them to change, sometimes."<p>

Raijumon lay in silence, still looking up at Amy's face with eyes that were shining ever so slightly. In a lot of ways, he felt he could identify with her and her father those sorts of struggles... being more protective of Monica, taking on too much responsibility... it gave him a lot to think on, and Amy could tell he'd probably sleep on it.

"Regardless, whatever you decide to do when we get back to the real world, the offer still stands, and me and Joey's doors are welcome to you." She concluded, patting one of his soft, thin ears. Surprisingly, he did not growl or move away as he usually did, but allowed her to continue her action.

"You won't... interfere in my responsibility as a parent...?" He asked, quietly, "My... duty, as her father?"

"No. You'll always be her father. I promise you'll have better living arrangements, and without interference." Amy replied, as Laelapmon wriggled under her arm to sleep at her side.

"Then... we'll come to your place. But your place only. I'm still unsure of Joey and that Darren..."

"I'm sure you'll warm up to everyone eventually." She smiled, watching him wrap his arm around Monica, who was using his fluffy mane as a pillow.

"We'll see." was his response, before everyone managed to finally drift off to sleep.

* * *

><p>When morning came, Amy had almost completely forgotten where she was. She was not in her single bed, with it's heavy blue blankets, but on a futon on the floor. Where as daylight normally didn't penetrate her room until midday due to the positioning of her bedroom, and her bedroom's blinds, she had woken up with the morning sun that day.<p>

She almost startled when she took in her surroundings, before it came flooding back to her. It hadn't been a dream at all... she really was in the digital world, and last night had really happened.

Raijumon was already awake, sitting by the open shoji doors, looking out over the landscape towards the rising sun. Not too far left, the corrupted, decaying barred-off quarantined zone could be seen, plumes of black smoke and smog spewing up into the atmosphere ominously.

"You're up early, I see." Amy called, walking up to sit beside Raijumon. His cheeks pinkened slightly through his fur as she reached to playfully tweak his ear. "That's very admirable. Any clue when our guide gets here?"

"The Sage left to meet him ahead of time. I don't think he slept at all... he was still up when we bedded down last night, and he was the first one up this morning." Raijumon commented, his tail curling slightly at the tip in thoughtfulness, "I really don't think he's human. He doesn't feel human. He feels nothing like you or other humans have felt like... tell me I'm not the only one that feels like that?"

"No, I definitely feel like he's something else. Maybe something more." Amy replied, glad that she wasn't alone in feeling that their mysterious host did not appear as human as first appearances seemed.

They sat quietly side by side and spoke a bit, going over the events from last night again, as the sun continued to crawl up over the horizon, spilling rays of yellow across a cloudy sky. Eventually, Laelapmon came crawling out from under the covers to sit with Amy (after accidentally bumping into her back), followed by Monica.

Amy felt only a fraction more hopeful now that she had a clearer idea of what she was going to do. She decided that as well as making sure Joey received his files, she would definitely keep more in touch with the Resistance and keep them up to date, especially on whatever Joey could dig up.

She hoped - prayed - he, Manimon and Elecmon were somewhere safe. Reflecting on things, aside from Laelapmon's sight, they had gotten off lightly. She couldn't even guess whether or not he'd gotten out in one piece... even if the Agents found him, hopefully he wouldn't be punished too severely, but it would be better than coming back and discovering he'd gone missing, or worse, been found dead at the plant.

She tried her best not to think about it. It didn't take long before Laelapmon provided that distraction.

"Laelapmon? What's wrong?"

Laelapmon was suddenly up on her feet, almost bursting with excitement. Whilst her face usually keep an expression of dignified reservation, her wagging tail and perked ears betrayed her true emotions.

Before Amy could stop her, Laelapmon went tearing off down the pathway, with Amy, Raijumon and Monica hot on her heels.

"I-It's him! It's him!" The little dog barked, rushing on and onwards, causing the little bell flowers to chime noisily as she ran passed.

Around a bend, Laelapmon bumped right into two big, heavy black paws. Yapping, she hopped up on her feet, balancing on her hind legs and leaned against Barghestmon's powerful leg.

"Long time no see, Amy, Laelapmon. I've come to take you home."


End file.
